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Dear Parent/Guardian

Re: PTA Day of Fellowship – Stanborough School

You are cordially invited to our Annual PTA Day of Fellowship on Sabbath, 18 May 2013 hosted by the Stanborough Secondary School, here on our beautiful campus in the Assembly Hall.

The purpose of the day is to provide an opportunity for parents, Governors, staff, students and friends of the school to share the worship and fellowship experience. The day will begin at 10.30 until approximately 12.30 pm for the morning service.  Our Guest Speaker is Mrs Cathy Boldeau for the morning session and we thank Mrs Boldeau in advance for accepting our invitation.

There will also be an afternoon programme which commences at 2.45 pm until 4.45 pm, followed by an inspiring concert at 5.00 pm.  Mrs Sixolelwe Belgrave, a past student of the School will give a motivational presentation during the afternoon programme.

Lunch will be provided for all visitors in the School’s Cafeteria and parking is also available on site.

The day promises to be filled with God’s blessings and we look forward to seeing you there.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
And into His gates with praise,
Be thankful to Him,
and bless His Name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
(Psalm 100: 4-5)

Yours sincerely

Mrs Lorraine Dixon
Interim Head Teacher

Luca “in action”
(© Mike Ellis Photography / TRYB)

Congratulations to Luca on winning a gold medal at Hertfordshire County Junior Foil Championships (U14) 2013! The competition has held at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, on the 9^th February 2013. Tree Rivers Young Blades’ press officer commented: “Luca was in strong competition and fenced well throughout to win”.

We are VERY proud of YOU!

Well done Luca!
(© Mike Ellis Photography / TRYB)

To all Year 9 Parents/Guardians

Dear Parent/Guardian

Re:  SATS examinations 2013

Although SATS are no longer mandatory, our school prefers to conduct these exams as they work as base line tests for GCSE.

Key Stage 3 SATS examinations in English, Mathematics and Science begins on Tuesday 16 April 2013 and ends by Friday 19 April 2013. Please take note that these examinations will be conducted immediately on returning to school. Therefore please encourage your child to do adequate revision during the Easter breaks.

 Students will need the following equipment:

• Pens and pencils (at least one spare), pencil sharpeners and rubbers
• A ruler showing centimetres and millimetres
• An angle measurer or protractor
• A pair of compasses
• A scientific calculator
• EFL students only may use dictionaries which give word for word translation.  These may only be used in the written Mathematics and Science papers.

Please encourage your child to revise for these examinations and ensure that they arrive promptly each day and that no exam sessions are missed. For your information a copy of the timetable is printed on the reverse of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Mr W Nalli
Exams Officer

Daniela and the little ones

Five Stanborough students spent two weeks teaching in an orphanage in India during the February half-term break. The trip was organised by Mr Kish Poddar, Assistant Headteacher, as part of the community service ethos of the school. The students raised their own airfares and costs to travel to the city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu, India and teach at the BESSO Children’s Home.

The students and teachers gathered together at 4.00 am at the school on a cold February morning to begin their adventure. Yet a warm and colourful welcome awaited them at the gates of the BESSO Children’s Home! The BESSO Children’s home – built by STOP International in 2002 – is home to one hundred orphan children. The BESSO Children’s home also has a Primary and Nursery school that the orphans attend.

The orphans warmed up to the team of new ‘young teachers’ from England immediately. Our students were challenged by the basic facilities at the orphanage, such as using chalk and blackboard, no computers or internet, and the 30 degree temperature; but they soldiered on teaching in English Maths, Geography, English, Citizenship, History, Science, Spelling and Grammar.

Our students used their evenings to prepare their lessons. Their dedication and commitment to teaching the orphans inspired the children to complete their homework assignments and study for class tests. The young teachers were so impressed that they were moved to reward the little children with gifts and sweets for their effort in class.

Daniela, one of our ‘young teachers’, commented: “I had the time of my life. I will keep memories of this trip in my heart forever. To teach such adorable and sweet children was a touching experience. They are orphans yet there seems to be a special joy and happiness about them. I now want to have an Indian sister.”

Elizabeth also commented: “The children out there use a pencil right down until it is finished, whereas in England if we lose it we are able to buy another. I am personally going to stop complaining about things I do not have and start being thankful about things I do have.”

The Principal of the school, Mrs Josephine Ganesh, assessed and rated the teaching of the students from Stanborough School and presented awards. Tanya, Elizabeth and Phoebe received Good Teacher awards, Buya, the Best Teacher award and Daniela received the Excellent Teacher award.

Before the team left for India, Miss Gautran, an accompanying teacher, organised a collection of new underwear from the Stanborough School students and parents. Several dozen sets of underwear were received, packed and taken to India. When these were distributed to the children of the BESSO and the Way To Life orphanages, the delight on their faces was incredible.

Of course it was not all work because the team took two days off for sightseeing, travelling by train to Mysore to see the world famous Mysore Maharajah’s palace, the beautiful bird sanctuary at Ranganathithu and a tour of the city of Mysore shopping for gifts and souvenirs.

Tanya summed up what a trip like this is all about. In her words: “I will never forget the laughs, the fun, the exploring of nature and what God  has created, to bring us to an understanding as to why we were placed on Earth, to help others and that’s exactly why I will never forget India.”

Our ‘young teachers’

Teaching time!

The WBD Quiz winner team

On 7 March 2013 Stanborough School students took up the spirit of the World Book Day with enthusiasm and excitement! Both our local students and the group of visiting students from Spain participated in a specially adapted version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?” quiz. Categories included: Bible, Literature, History, Geography, Science, Stanborough Library and General Knowledge.

Boys outshone the girls on this occasion taking the first 3 prizes but the girls are quite determined to claim the first place next year!  While the three winning teams received their prizes, all students received a book token. St Albans Waterstones set up a table in the Assembly Hall to ensure that all students had an opportunity to exchange their tokens for a ‘World Book Day’ free book.

After lunch Stanborough students opened their books and enjoyed an uninterrupted hour of reading. And why not? A book is like a wallet. You don’t know what’s inside until you open it

Exchanging tokens

Tai Po Sam Yuk School, Tai Po, HK

On February 13-26 a group of Students from Stanborough Secondary School visited Hong Kong in the framework of a long-standing annual cultural exchange.

Since 2006, Stanborough Secondary School and Tai Po Sam Yuk Secondary School (TPSY) have a reciprocal exchange that allows students from both schools to explore another culture and experience a different education system. On February 3rd Stanborough welcomed a party of students from TPSY for 12 days. And on February 13th it was the turn of Stanborough students to fly to Hong Kong and enjoy a fun-packed programme.

Students had the opportunity to visit some of Hong Kong’s most famous and culturally important sites, such as Victoria Harbour, The Peak, The Big Buddha, Tai Po Lin Monastery, Tai O Fishermen Village, Macau Island and Clearwater Bay Beach among many others. Students also attended lessons at TPSY where they particularly enjoyed Mathematics and English. Additionally, they experienced China’s rich culinary culture and appreciated the opportunity to make new friends.

About her experience Sarah – a Year 7 student – shares: “What l liked the most about Hong Kong was Ocean Park and the Big Buddha. Ocean Park is a theme park with lots of fun rides and extremely fast Merry-Go-Rounds… The Big Buddha [a 26m stature on a hilltop in Ngong Pi] was really big. It is very important to Buddhist people… and we saw them praying when we got to the top.”

“Our students are privileged to have such an opportunity to develop as global citizens”, said one of the accompanying teachers. “Trips like this provide them with first-hand experience about other cultures and educational systems. Additionally, it teaches them tolerance and responsibility towards each other and the wider world.”

At Ocean Park

Macau Island