Coming Up
15th April
Summer Term Begins
15th – 26th April
Year 10 Exams
17th – 26th April
Year 9 Exams
Contact Us
Lemsford Lane
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL8 6YR
Tel: 01707 321755
Mr S. Benzid, Curriculum Leader: IT & Computing, write:
On Saturday 20th January, five Year 8 students represented Stanborough School in the Robot Rumble Final Event ran by MBDA hosted at Hertfordshire University. This is the 11th instalment of this competition with Stanborough competing in the past eight competitions.
The event was based on the VEX 2017/18 challenge ‘In the Zone’. The team had to initially present the design of the robot to an expert panel of judges.
During the presentation the team had to explain their design decisions and how they tackled the challenge.
The next stage of the day was the league stage, this is where they played six matches. Winning four and losing two, ending this stage in 4th place.
The final stage before the knockout competition was the alliance selection. The team were approached by John Warner School and graciously accepted. From this point our team went on an unbeaten run that took them all the way to the final, winning the knockout competition comfortably, an excellent feat! They displayed real quality.
The judges then gave out the awards during the closing ceremony, with Stanborough School winning the prestigious Engineering & Skills Award.
Well done to all the students who competed in the Robot Rumble competition and a thank you to Matt Schofield and Alex our MBDA Mentor for helping to organise the day as well as the support they have provided to the students throughout the build-up to this event. We look forward to seeing what is in store for this young robotics team… So watch this space!
Miss R. Hooper, Subject Leader: Science, writes:
On Thursday 18th January the Science Museum Outreach team joined us to perform some excellent science-based shows for Years 7- 9. Years 7 and 9 took part in the ‘It Takes Guts’ show where they learned of the journey of food through the digestive system. There were plenty of screeches and grimaces as the students watch footage of a camera travelling from the mouth to the rectum! Years 7 and 8 learnt about the properties of materials and atomic structure in the ‘Material World’ show where they watched a jelly baby combust and a hydrogen balloon explode! The students (and teachers) had a great time and we hope to see the Science Museum Outreach team again in the future.
‘The Science Museum visit taught me a lot more than I knew before, like how different metals burn into different colours’ Lucy Woolmore 8B
‘I enjoyed the Science Museum visit because it was very interesting and it was exciting to watch’ Millie Battersby 8A
‘It was very interesting and funny!’ Charley Lettis 8B
‘I thought it was really good and well presented. It was also fun because we could go up and do the experiment as well’ Josh Monery 8K
Chloe Fisher 9B and Annabel Dunstan 9A, write:
On the 16th January, eight students from Years 8 and 9, accompanied by Mrs Elliott, attended a languages taster day at Cambridge University. The day began with a talk from one of the college staff and four ambassadors who currently study languages at the university. We discovered some surprising statistics about languages around the world, for example: only 5% of the world’s population speak English!
We took a lesson in the language that we are currently being taught at Stanborough, French or Spanish. This involved watching adverts and experiencing a lesson from the university professors, which was really enjoyable. Then we had taster sessions in two languages we had never used before – we didn’t know a single word of either of them to begin with! We had a lesson in Arabic, learning a new alphabet and discovering an interesting script. We started with basic introductions, e.g hello = ahlan, and introduced ourselves in Arabic to students from other schools. A lesson in Portuguese involved learning numbers and greetings. As you can imagine, this was slightly easier to read but pronunciation was complicated.
Overall, the day was fun and interesting and inspired us all to consider languages further in our education. We are all proud to say that we can now officially write our names in Arabic! We would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Siddiqui for organising this fantastic and stimulating event and to Mrs Elliott for accompanying us and making it very enjoyable.
“It was a very enjoyable day with a good opportunity to learn new languages!” Amy May Ashely 9A
“I enjoyed the Arabic because it was different to anything I’ve ever done before.” Ellie Anne Hart 9A
Mr S. Benzid, Curriculum Leader: IT & Computing, writes:
On Saturday 13th January, Stanborough School hosted a VEX Robotics Regional Competition. The VEX Robotics, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, is the ultimate STEM activity for school students from ages 11-18.
Each year, an engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game. Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, use the VEX Robotics Design System to build innovative robots designed to score the most points possible in qualification matches, elimination matches and skills challenges. In addition to having a great time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team, students will learn many academic and life skills.
Both Stanborough teams learnt a lot from the day, especially seeing the other teams’ robots. The judges were impressed by the ideas and designs of the robots seen on the day. The day was really competitive and our teams should be proud of their efforts as it was both their first time competing. We welcomed teams from all over Hertfordshire, Nottingham, Essex, Kent and London. Congratulations to our Henrietta Barnet team ‘HBS the Purge’ for winning the overall Excellence Award.
“Saturday’s event was a fun and educational experience. We learnt a lot about the different designs for robots and what works the best. Some of the most competitive teams focussed around having a good drive and were capable of moving around the pitch efficiently.” Charlie Earnshaw 10B
Well done to all the students who competed in the competition and a massive thank you to all the students, former students, staff, parents and local business people for volunteering to support the organising of the day and making it such a success. A big thank you to our competition sponsors, Ocado Technology. Good luck to our teams as they have more competitions in the coming months, so watch this space…
Mr S. Benzid, Curriculum Leader: IT & Computing, writes:
On Saturday 6th January, Stanborough School hosted a First Lego League Robotics Competition. The First Lego League is an international competition organised by FIRST for primary and middle school students. In September each year, a new challenge is announced that focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences. The robotics part of the competition revolves around designing and programming Lego Mindstorms robots to complete tasks. The students work out solutions to the various problems they are given and then meet for regional competitions to share their knowledge, compare ideas, and display their robots.
The teams had to carry out a research project on an area of hydrodynamics. The Stanborough team did extremely well, with our mixed Year 7 and 8 team winning two awards. A project summary will be included in a future edition of the Stanborough Times. The first award was for Core Values; during their presentation they showed teamwork and excellent communication skills. The judges also noted that Harry Beale showed outstanding leadership during this presentation. The second award was for the robot design; they received this award for the multi attachments they used on their robot to complete missions and how they structured their chassis.
“This was my first time in the Lego Robotics team. I feel that we all learnt something new on the day like better teamwork.” Matthew Williamson 7K
We welcomed teams from all around Hertfordshire to the competition, with a team even coming down from South Yorkshire. Overall the day was a huge success and all the visiting teams really enjoyed the experience.
Well done to all the students who competed in the competition and a massive thank you to all the current and past students, staff, parents and local business people for volunteering to support the organising of the day and making it such a success!
Mr S. McQueen, Subject Leader: Drama, writes:
Stanborough School’s annual House Drama Competition took place at the end of last term and was a feast of theatrical accomplishment. Each of the six houses, (led by their Sixth Form House Captains), had to create, rehearse and then perform a piece of theatre lasting between 30-40 mins.
The Performances this year were:
Ashridge– Lights Out: a creepy supernatural horror adapted from a film exploring a shadowy creature attacking a group of school children and what they have to do to stop it.
Brocket– Back to the Future: the 1980s classic time traveling comedy reimagined for the stage.
Hatfield– The Wizard of Oz: an adaptation of the famous book, musical and film exploring Dorothy Gale’s adventures in Oz.
Knebworth- In Time: a stage version of the science fiction film in which everyone stops ageing at 25, but life and time itself becomes currency.
Offley– Oliver Twist: a stage adaptation of the classic Dickens’ novel, showing the troubles the orphan Oliver has with such characters as Fagin, Bill Sykes and The Artful Dodger.
Sopwell– The Truman Show: an adaptation of the film showing the life of Truman Burbank, the unwitting star of an elaborate reality TV show.
All performances were creative, entertaining and a huge congratulations must go out to the House Captains for writing, adapting, directing and producing six excellent House Dramas.
A series of awards, the Stanborough Oscars if you will, are awarded by the judges for outstanding work or performance throughout the final performance day.
It was a hard-fought competition spread over 4 days. Myself and Mr Crann awarded up to 30 marks per house for the first three days; based on their work back-stage, their work with the Sound and Light Team and the performances that they gave.
The awards given were:
The Sound & Light Award: Dan Paget, Knebworth, for planning and programming all the lights for all the performances.
Best Sound and Light in performance: Ashridge, for their use of special effects in Lights Out.
Best Newcomers: James Flint, Abbie Woolner, Phoebe Wilkins, Hatfield, for playing Munchkins, Flying Monkeys and Emerald City Guards and Citizens.
Best Cameo Role: Callum Kirwan, Hatfield, for playing The Wicked Witch of the West.
Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Rowe, Ashridge, for playing Dan.
Best Supporting Actress: Caitlin Maciver, Knebworth, for playing the Time Keeper.
Best Actor: Sam Baird, Knebworth, for playing Will Salas.
Best Actress: Georgia Burgess, Hatfield, for playing Dorothy Gale.
Best Direction: Jasmine Gaydon and Lily O’Keeffe, Hatfield.
It was a hard-fought competition spread over four days. Myself and Mr Crann awarded up to 30 marks per house for the first three days based on their work back-stage, their work with the Sound and Light Team and the performances that they gave.
100 marks were awarded on the final day by our two judges. This year Mr Brown and Ms McCarthy judged the final performances and a tough decision it was for them, with first and second place being separated by just one point.
The final scores were:
1st : Knebworth, 116 points
2nd : Hatfield, 115 points
3rd : Ashridge, 111 points
4th : Offley, 98 points
5th Sopwell, 93 points
6th : Brocket 91 points
Special thanks must go to Mr Brown and Ms McCarthy as our judges and extra-special thanks to Mr Crann and the Sound and Light Team for all their hard work.
Finally, huge congratulation once again to the directors, cast and back stage teams for each of the six houses for creating six wonderful performances. Well done.
Mr T. Braybrook, Deputy Headteacher, writes:
Thursday 14th December saw Christmas come to Stanborough with a vengeance! Not only was it our non -uniform/Christmas jumper day (which raised just under £800), but also it saw the inaugural ‘Stanborough Christmas Market’ in the hall for staff and students to enjoy after their Christmas Dinner. Stalls included candy cane delivery for those lucky recipients on the last day of term, hot chocolate, seasonal tattoos (temporary I think), cakes galore and seasonal fancy dress items from the very popular Nest stall and also the ever popular chocolate tombola. All great fun and expertly organised by Macy and her festive helpers in Year 13 and Mrs Venneear and her band of merry Nest elves. The total raised from the event was just under £200.
The festive merriment didn’t end there however, and on Friday 15th we were invited to the premiere of the annual Staff Christmas Video directed by James Atkins and Lily O’Keeffe. You may have seen the new Star Wars film premier earlier in the week causing a bit of a stir, but those film bugs amongst you will know where the true creative genius lies, right here at Stanborough! A select crowd of staff and students, each paying 50p for the privilege, witnessed a cinematic masterpiece with the beautifully shot romantic tale based at Stanborough. For those interested, you can see this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGo3XILLQKQ. The event raised just over £100 for our charity of the year, Young Minds.
To donate to Young Minds, head to this link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stanchristmasvid. Any donation is greatly appreciated!
On Monday 18th we also had the superb annual Stanborough Carol Concert which also raised £200.46.
So, as we end the year, our grand total currently stands at £5279.58, a magnificent effort and it means we are well on target of reaching our £10,000 grand total for the year. Well done to all those involved in any way this year with the fundraising effort.
15th April
Summer Term Begins
15th – 26th April
Year 10 Exams
17th – 26th April
Year 9 Exams
Lemsford Lane
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL8 6YR
Tel: 01707 321755