Parental Bulletin - 22nd March 2019

Parental Bulletin
22nd March 2019

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 – 22nd March 2019
(available on our website)
I hope you were able to take the time to read my email yesterday about the action you should take if your child
wishes to take part in future ‘Student Strike’ events. The students have had an assembly this week about the
power of protest and how to do it effectively.
Miss Walston asked her form (8Templar) to bring in one fact about climate change. Maya Custins, Emma Harris,
Ethan Dolby and Harry Mayes went above and beyond and made these amazing posters.

Thank you to all parents who attended the Year 10 Parent’s Evening this week. There was a really positive
atmosphere.
It was good to meet parents and students at last night’s Duke of Edinburgh
Awards Presentation. Our guest of honour was James Blake, the CEO of
the Youth Hostel association. A full write up will be in next week’s bulletin.
The demolition work of the S block continues. We are at the stage where
the concrete base is being crushed and this material will be used for hardstanding
around the school site. Evers, the building contractors have
worked very closely with us to minimise the noise around school and we
are definitely over the worst of it. The new play space will be grass seeded
in May.
Kind regards,
Tim Litchfield
Headteacher
Dates for your Diary
Saturday 23 March 2019 Student & Parent trip to Saracens vs Harlequins
Monday 25 March 2019 Year 8 National School’s Rugby 7’s Tournament
Tuesday 26 March 2019 Year 10 Exam Skills Workshops
Wednesday 27 March 2019 Yr11 Dance Practical Exam
Professor David Nutt Visit
Sixth From Performance Assessment - Unit 3
Full Governors' Meeting
Yr9 Bronze Practice 3 Planning Meeting
Thursday 28 March 2019 Yr11 Art GCSE Exam
Sixth From Performance Assessment - Unit 3
6th Form Big Quiz
KS4/5 Opera trip; The Magic Flute
Friday 29 March 2019 Yr11 Art GCSE Exam
Year 10 Exam Skills Workshops

Music News
Congratulations to Jack in Year 12 for performing in the Peter Lambourne Music Bursary Competition Concert at
Benslow Music Trust on Sunday.
This annual competition is run by Hitchin Rotary Club and is open to Year 12 musicians from North Hertfordshire.
Jack gave an exceptional saxophone performance, accompanied by Mr Mike O’Neill on piano and Mr Tommy Hunt
on bass.
Thanks must also go to Jack’s saxophone teacher, Mr Phillip Brunton, for his care and guidance over many years.
Jazz Spectacular – Saturday 11 th May 2019
Join us for an evening of toe tapping Jazz standards featuring our Little Big Band, The KTS All Stars with singers and
the highly talented Gabriel Taylor Trio. This year we are paying tribute to music of the 40’s including a selection of
Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and others, so bring your dancing shoes.
Tickets are priced at £10.00 (£7.00 concession) and will be available from Baldock Community Centre from 13 th
April. Tickets will also go on sale at school after the Easter holiday and can be purchased in person from Reception
or online via WisePay. Please note that tickets will not be available on the door. Doors will open at 7.00pm for a
7.30pm start. There will be a cash bar available throughout the evening for refreshments.
Lost Property
On Friday 29th March, students who have missing PE kit are encouraged to
come to the Sports Hall at lunchtime - they are welcome to take any items
needed to complete their kit from our extensive pile of lost property.
Students with named lost property have been notified that if they do not
collect their items by Friday 29th March, their clothing will go into the spare
kit available to all students.
Thank you for your support.
Sarah Temple
Apprenticeship and Gap Year Opportunities
Two years ago, one of our ex students, Max Munford, had an internship at CMR surgical, a company based in
Cambridge developing a surgical robot. He found the people fantastic to work with and they genuinely cared about
what they were working on.
They have recently started offering apprenticeships and a gap year placement and offer an exceptional chance for
students to learn and develop themselves while working on the future of surgery. More information on the
company and the roles on offer (Business Apprentice, IT Apprentice, Engineering technician Apprentice, Gap Year
Placement) can be found at https://cmrsurgical.com/.
The roles would appeal to practical and enthusiastic people, with the gap year placement really needing a high end
maths student. Should any student(s) be particularly interested, Max would be more than happy to lend a hand
with CV/interview prep. Please contact froper@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk if you would like his contact details.

PE News
Year 8 Netball
It was a delight to take the year 8 Netball team to the district tournament
on Tuesday.
They showed great leadership and maturity with the organisation of
their team and roles on court.
They won 2 games, lost 2 games (by only a few goals) and drew a game.
It meant they didn’t manage to go through from their pool but they
played some dynamic netball finishing 4 th out of 6 teams.
Player of the match goes to Daisy T who acted on all feedback given in
each team talk and showed great resilience throughout the tournament.
Well done girls and I look forward to a great season again with you next
year!
Miss Ward
Year 10 Junior Umpires
Well done to the Year 10 girls who ran and umpired the Year 5 & 6 netball tournament at St Francis last Thursday.
Sophie Prior, Grace Simpson, Philippa Dawes and Siobhan Graviles-Reynolds showed great leadership umpiring all
the matches and Jemima Walley and Willow Marsden were in charge of the scoring and the running of the
competition. The junior school teachers were very impressed with the girls maturity and have asked for them to
come back next year! Well done!!
Year 10 District Netball
On Thursday 28 th February the year 10 girls played in the annual district netball tournament at Marriotts School.
We got off to a great start playing amazingly well in attack and defence. We successfully came second in our group
which put us through to the semi-finals! Unfortunately we played a very strong Hitchin girls team in the semi’s
which we unsuccessful putting us 4 th in the district!
Congratulations to all the girls – Sophie Prior, Grace Simpson, Jemima Wally, Jenna Brown, Morgan Lea, Philippa
Dawes, Neave Wilcox, Ellie Wilcox.
Year 7 District Netball
On Wednesday 13 th March the year 7 netball team played in the district netball tournament at Marriott’s School.
We had a very tough group to play against, however we still managed win 1, draw 2 and lose 3. Well done to all the
girls they worked so hard in all the matches and made big improvement after every game.
Player of the tournament was Freya.

Media News
Year 11 Media Students & Parents
Year 11 have a final submission date for coursework of Thursday 4 th April 2019.
The majority of work is completed, but there are still bits and bobs missing.
Students have been through their folders today to identify what they still need, so
they know if all of their work is present or not.
If work is still missing, ownership is on the students to attend catch up sessions in
K15 at lunchtime which is available with Miss Baker on Monday Week A and
Thursday Week B.
Please do encourage your son/daughter to come along. This coursework task is
worth 30% of their GCSE grade and is a fantastic opportunity to bag as many
marks as they can before the exam. Thank you for your support with this.
Year 13 Media Students & Parents
Yeah 13 have their final deadline to work on their coursework which is
Wednesday 27 th March. They will have one final lesson on Tuesday to
tie up any loose ends. I would like to take this opportunity to praise
the class on their efforts on coursework, particularly over the last
couple of weeks, students have really upped the anti and produced
some impressive work- well done to you all.
Year 10 Media Students & Parents
Thanks to all the parents and students who I met with at parents evening on Wednesday. I tried to make all parents
aware that NEA has now been released to the students and will be at the forefront of our lessons for the next term.
As a result, please encourage your son/daughter to use their excellent book work and google classroom to revise
for the upcoming mock exams. Everything we have studied up to this point will be on the exam paper. Please also
support the students and their production of the NEA, particularly when it comes to taking photos for the task
chosen. I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to the work that will soon be produced!

Green Knights News
The Green Knights have teamed up with new local group Baldock Beats Waste to encourage students and staff to
do their bit for the planet. The group aim to encourage locals to consider the small, simple steps they can take to
make a difference to the planet and will be involved in a number of local events over the coming months including:
The Baldock Big Lunch
The Spring Clean Up (in conjunction with the WI)
The group will be holding their first public meeting on Thursday 4 th April at Tapps Garden Centre. If you would like
to get involved with this fantastic local group please contact them via their Facebook page or simply turn up on the
night.
As part of our collaboration, the school is also launching a campaign to recycle crisp packets, which are often not
recyclable with your normal household waste. Simply collect up any empty crisp packets (not popcorn or other similar
packets) and drop them off in the recycling bin inside the school’s reception or take them directly to the
Community Centre. By doing this as a community we are able to save many tonnes of waste sitting in landfill.
Miss M Staines

English News
We are running a Read for Good Sponsored Read from 25 th March-5 th April and all Year 7 students will be able to
get involved both in and out of school.
Please note that students from any year group are welcome to get involved if they would like to participate out of
school and should contact Miss Walston (awalston@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk) if they would like more information or
sponsorship cards.
It’s been proven that children who read for pleasure are more likely to be successful and happy throughout their
lives (OECD).
The charity Read for Good encourages children to read through its unique motivational approach inspiring reluctant
readers to give reading a go, and keen readers to read more widely. Pupils can choose whatever they want to read -
from comics to classics and audio books to blogs - they are not being assessed, it’s all about reading for fun. And,
they are motivated to read because the money they raise in sponsorship helps to provide a regular supply of brand
new books and a resident storyteller to every major children’s hospital in the UK.
Teachers, parents and pupils tell us that the freedom to choose what to read, combined with the knowledge that
they are directly helping children in hospital compels pupils to get involved.
All you have to do is:
1. Take a look at what they plan to read, or help them complete their list of books to read. Remember they can
read whatever they want: books, e-books, poetry, comics – anything goes! Sharing books is fine too (in fact
recommended!) as well as listening to audio books.
2. Help your child find sponsors among family and friends. The easiest way to sponsor a child is
at www.readforgood.org/sponsor (which family and friends can use too) or return the sponsor card with a cheque
(s) or cash sent to school. Sponsor money needs to be handed in to Miss Walston by 30 th April.
Please support your child’s sponsored read as much as you can. They’ll be helping kids in hospitals get books, as
well as helping themselves. And our school receives free books worth 20% of our grand sponsorship total – so there
really is something in it for everyone.
For more information, check out your child’s sponsorship card and visit www.readforgood.org.
Miss A Walston

LIBRARY NEWS this week..
Some quotes from our NHSBA participants….
“I enjoyed it, it was a new experience for me”
“Quite interesting getting to talk to the other kids from the other schools”
“Quite interesting and inspiring”
“I enjoyed Lucy Adlington’s talk”
“It was good to cooperate with the other schools about reading”
The North Herts Schools Book Award event at Fearnhill was a resounding success yesterday. Our thirteen
students from Years 7 through to 9, who had prepared themselves well for the Award event, were exemplary –
both in terms of their behaviour and involvement, as well as asking lots of questions of the guest author, Lucy
Adlington who was both inspirational and entertaining.
Well done to you all.
The voting was very close, with the winner of the younger category The land of neverendings by Kate Saunders
and the older category was convincingly won by Frances Hardinge’s A skinful of shadows.
Our next challenge (!)… is the national Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Award 2019 with the announcement this
week of the shortlisted titles. If students would like to participate in this Award by shadowing (ie: reading,
discussing and reviewing) one or more of the shortlisted titles, please let Mrs Evans or Mrs Martin know in the
Library. ALL Year groups are invited to join in and books should be available to borrow before the end of next
week.
Here’s the Carnegie Award shortlist (two titles from our North Herts Schools Book Award!) :

Why should students participate? A recent poll of shadowers revealed:
89% think Carnegie and Kate Greenaway shortlists introduce them to new books they otherwise might not
have read
70% talk to their librarian more when reading the shortlists
79% say reading and discussing the books on the shortlists makes them think more about the books they
read.
88% tell us they read in their spare time and in the evenings
www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk provides information on the Kate Greenaway shortlist too.
And if you want to follow Carnegie/Kate Greenaway on twitter : @CILIPCKG
Our twitter account is : @ktslibrarian
Best wishes
Mrs Evans, Mrs Martin and Mrs Boddy, KTS Library

Year 10 get into the spirit of things!
Students on the BTEC Level 2 First Certificate in Children’s Play, Learning and Development course dropped their
inhibitions to immerse themselves in a bit of role-play. As part of the unit ‘Promoting Children’s Development
through Play’ the class took it in turns to role play the part of children at play and the adults who work with those
children. They were required to dive straight in at the deep end by pretending to be toddlers! Next week we’ll
turn our focus onto the play of children aged 2—5 years and later to children of 5—8 years before finally taking on
the very serious task of turning their experiences into a written report to explain the importance of play to child
development. After Easter these students will have the opportunity to put theory into practise when they visit a
local nursery in order to observe real children at play.

Geography NEA trip to Flatford Mill
Our Year 12 Geographers stayed at Flatford Mill Field Studies Centre from Sunday 10 – Wednesday 13 th March.
Students learnt about the potential for geographical enquiry in the area including place representation and flows of
water and carbon. All students chose to specialise in either Physical and Human Geography and used a wide range
of equipment to collect their data, e.g. coring equipment, penetrometers and soil ovens. Our students battled the
horizontal rain to complete their data collection- both Miss Staines and I were impressed with the determination
and resilience shown by our students in the face of adverse weather conditions!
In terms of our accommodation, we were lucky enough to stay in ‘Willy Lotts’ cottage which was featured in a
range of John Constable’s art work and, most famously, ‘The Haywain’ which was painted in 1821.
We would like to wish our Year 12 Geographers the very best with their ongoing coursework.
Miss S Bow, Head of Geography
Student Finance Evening
Thank you to all of the parents and students who attended our Year 13 student finance evening
on Monday. Please click here for a link to the presentation or go to
www.sixthform.ktemplar.herts.sch.uk/events.
Senior football team update
Congratulations to the senior football team who have qualified for the district final. They will face Barnwell School,
on a date to be confirmed. Well done boys.
Year 13 Media Students & Parents
Yeah 13 have their final deadline to work on their coursework which is Wednesday 27 th March. They will have one
final lesson on Tuesday to tie up any loose ends. I would like to take this opportunity to praise the class on their
efforts on coursework, particularly over the last couple of weeks, students have really upped the anti and produced
some impressive work- well done to you all.