Parental Bulletin 4th January 2018

Parental Bulletin
4th January 2018

The Knights Templar School
Headteacher:
Mr T. Litchfield, G.G.S.M.
Park Street
Baldock
Herts SG7 6DZ
Email: admin@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk Tel: 01462 620700
Dear Parents and Carers
PARENTAL WEEKLY UPDATE – 4th January 2018
(available on our website)
I do hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas and I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.
We had a very successful end of term where students were able to experience the Christmas Concerts, Christmas
Lunch, our Christmas Fete and our final assemblies, which we held in St Mary’s Church. The spirit in school was exceptional.
We held two ‘Wear your Christmas Jumper’ days where we raised £430 for Save the Children – thank you
to you for all for your support on this.
Over the next few weeks we are holding a number of parent evenings:
January 9 th – Year 7 Parents’ Evening
January 18 th – Year 9 GCSE Options Evening
January 31 st – Year 12 Parents’ Evening
Information regarding these evenings has been sent to you or will be sent, but please do have a look at the school
website for further details.
I do hope that you will be joining us to watch the school production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. The students have been
working since September on this and it will be a very high standard indeed. The performance dates are Tuesday
23 rd – Friday 26 th January. In my experience the performances will sell out quickly, so I recommend booking your
seats early. The tickets will be going on sale this Monday, 11 th January.
I would like to let you know that we will be starting a building programme in early February. We have been awarded
funding by the department for education to replace the art rooms, the food technology room, one design and
technology room and some IT provision. This is a very exciting development for us as the old ‘S Block’ has needed
replacing for some time now. This block will not start to be pulled down until the end of the year (December) and
will then become outdoor space for the students.
Kind regards,
Tim Litchfield
Headteacher
Dates for your Diary
Saturday 06 01 2018 School Production Tech Rehearsal 09:00—17:00
Monday 08 01 2018 Yr11-13 Senior Indoor Hockey Tournament
Tuesday 09 01 2018 Yr7 Parents’ Evening

Music News
Congratulations to the following students for passing music grade exams this term:
Rosalind Hartley Grade 3 Trumpet Merit
Lee Caine Grade 4 Guitar Merit
Kit Coldstream Grade 4 Trumpet Distinction
Liam Galley-Coulthard Grade 4 Trumpet Merit
Imogen Stanley Grade 5 Tenor Horn Merit
Cameron Stanley Grade 7 Tuba Merit
Harry Mayes Grade 7 Piano Merit
Mental Health Leaflet on Website
Increasingly in the news we hear about a range of mental health issues that people face. Teenagers
also may experience problems that give cause for concern. Hertfordshire health authorities
have issued a helpful leaflet which signposts how extra help can be accessed. The leaflet deals
with issues such as addiction, bereavement, sexuality, eating, self-harm and other areas of concern.
Please follow this link to access the leaflet.
Drama News
LAMDA Tuition
Tuition will commence next week. All students will now be concentrating on their performances as they prepare for
the exam in May. Scripts and lines should be memorised in readiness for the first lesson and parents are asked to
offer support and a gentle nudge in the right direction!
On the subject of gentle nudges, parents are reminded that a number of tuition fees for the Spring Term are now
overdue for payment and should be settled as a matter of importance.
The Wizard of Oz
23 rd January – 26 th January 7.00pm
Tickets for this year’s school production will be selling from Monday 8 th January. Tickets are £8 and £5 concession.
They will be available to buy from the canteen at break time or via the Drama Department Box Office
(DramaBoxOffice@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk).
Year 7 Parents’ Evening
A reminder that the booking system for Yr7 Parents’ Evening is open till midday tomorrow.
Art News
Coming up soon:
17 th to 19 th January – Year 13 Art and Photography Study Days
2 nd February – Year 11 GCSE preparation visit to Tate Britain (see below), the payment/permission deadline is
Friday 12th January.

Library News
Future events
This term the library will play host to a variety of exciting visits and events.
Author Visit: Marcus Alexander
On the 21 st February a selection of our Year 9 students will attend a series of workshops hosted by the critically acclaimed
Young Adult Fantasy writer, Marcus Alexander. Marcus has produced lessons, presentations and activities
designed to promote, encourage and engage pupils in the act of reading and highlights the benefits of regular reading.
The visit has been made possible thanks to the joint support of Mrs Weston and the KTS English Department.
North Herts Secondary School Book Event: KTS
On the 21 st March the KTS Library will host the annual North
Herts Secondary School Book Event. Pupils representing
schools from across North Hertfordshire will discuss a selection
of YA Fiction, carefully selected by representatives of
each school. The highlight of this event will be a talk, Q&A
and book signing opportunity with last year’s winner Miriam
Moss whose book ‘Girl on a Pane’ won first prize at our 2017
awards and was included in this year’s Book Buzz.
Calling all Year 9 Book Lovers: We are looking for enthusiastic readers from Year 9 who would be interested in
taking part in the North Herts Secondary School Book Event. Students are asked to read three titles which are supplied
by the library, meaning there are no costs associated with participating. During the event pupils will discuss
the merits and any failings of each publication. If you feel that your child would like to take part please ask them to
contact the library.
North Herts Secondary School Book Event Book Titles: Older Reader Category

Christmas at The Knights Templar Sixth Form
The festive period is always a busy time of year for the Sixth Form at KTS and this year was no different.
The celebrations began with the Winter Dinner Dance event on Wednesday 13 th December, when over 140 students
descended on the glorious Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth. The students looked incredible, decked out in
their respective tuxedos and ball gowns, ready for an evening of good food, friends, music and dancing!
Felix Shaw kicked off proceedings with a wonderful rendition of Have yourself a merry little Christmas, before students
settled down for a wonderful 2-course meal. In between the courses and after, students were asked to turn
their attention to the projector screen to compete against each other in the Big Sixth Form Winter Quiz. Each table
battled it out against each other and despite the scores being very close, an eventual winner was decided and rewarded
with a large array of chocolates for the table.
As the evening edged more towards the dance segment of the evening, students were treated to a number of fantastic
musical performances from their peers. Joss King wowed the crowd with his fantastic performance on the
piano and Ben Buky and Ruby Allen combined their talents to produce a set of beautiful vocal and musical performances.
Ben got the crowd in the party mood with an exceptional performance of Great Balls of Fire on the piano
and Synovia Green stole the show with a breath-taking performance of Let it Go that got the room on its feet and
dancing.
Finally, our resident DJs Mr Middleton and Alec Bali took over and got the students dancing right up until the event
finished at 11.30pm.
This really was a very enjoyable event that epitomised the community feel of the Sixth Form. We would like to
thank the students for their excellent behaviour and positive approach to this event but we would also like to pay
tribute to the Dinner Dance Committee of students who put in tireless amounts of work to organise the table plans,
decorations and music- without their help, the event would have been nowhere near as successful.

The following week saw the Christmas Fete land at KTS.
Despite this being more of a whole school effort, the
contributions made to this event by Sixth Form students
was truly remarkable. From working as Santa’s elves in
the grotto, to making crepes, playing in the orchestra
and all stops in between, the work put in by our students
was brilliant!
On Monday 18th December, the whole Sixth Form congregated in the main hall for a KTS tradition and highlight of
the year—the Christmas concerts! The charismatic Mr Sills led proceedings as Master of Ceremonies as staff and
students alike donned their Christmas jumpers and enjoyed a festive sing-a-long. We would like to congratulate all
of the student performers who kept the crowd entertained with a range of dance, musical and comedic performances.
On the penultimate day of term, students gathered for their Christmas Lunch
in the common room which was revamped to take on more of a ‘grand hall’
dining experience, with tables and chairs set-up to allow for 160 students to
be seated at one time. Once again, the student response to this event was a
very positive one and it was great to see both years 12 and 13 join together to
eat their Christmas Lunch, accompanied by festive music to celebrate the
build up to the holiday period.
Finally, on the last day of term our Sixth Form students joined the rest of the school in attending a service at St
Mary’s Church. This was a very fitting way to calmly end a very hectic term of hard work and celebration and gave
students the opportunity to contemplate their fortunes, moving into the Christmas period.
We would like to thank all staff who have contributed to help make the build-up to Christmas an enjoyable one for
the Sixth Form and equally, we would like to thank the students for their continued efforts to ensure a positive and
vibrant atmosphere in the Sixth Form.
UCAS deadline
A reminder to all year 13 students that the deadline for UCAS applications to be submitted is
Monday 15 th January 2018. Please ensure you liaise with your tutor for a reference and book a
meeting with Mrs Hopkins or Mr Raymen to send your applications ASAP.