George Ward, Year 7 County Cross Country Champion, full details below in the Cross Country report.

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Irma Cooper
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1 9 th February 2018 Dear Parents I would like to start by thanking all members of the Richard Hale community for welcoming me over the last half term. I have met many parents and people associated with the school but in particular I have really enjoyed working with the students. The school is blessed to have so much talent within it, Cabaret was spectacular demonstrating the range of abilities the students have, the music and drama events alongside the show have impressed me greatly as have the sporting achievements. However, the students demonstrate their talents every day in lessons and walking around I have been impressed with their attitudes. I am looking forward to working with more of them after half term. Student Achievement This week I have had the pleasure to meet the following students to celebrate their achievements in a variety of areas: George Ward, Year 7 County Cross Country Champion, full details below in the Cross Country report. Ryan Andrews, Year 11 appointed Lord Lieutenant Cadet of Hertfordshire and Ware Sea Cadets. Idris Jarbale, Kai Wells and Adam Slade, William Appleford and Luca Stokes, Year 8 excellent presentation for their Philosophy Club. I also met with Alice Gifford and Sam McMillan, Year 13, who support these students in this club. Maddie Coupe, Halima Jibril, Annabel Ross and Yusuf Ben-Tarifite, Year 13, for supporting younger students in RE Classes. Musicians of the Month Congratulations to the following students who have been awarded the Musician of the month for January. With so many fantastic grade results and a large number of musicians taking part in the Cabaret production it has been a particularly hard month to reach a decision. Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 Julian Snelling Dylan Rix Robert Woodland Douglas Naylor-Stewart George Smith Max Guthrie Louis Jordan Music Exam Results Whilst the majority of students at Richard Hale started their Christmas holidays at the end of last term, a large number of students delayed the start of their relaxation period to take their practical music exams. As a result of Richard Hale being selected for additional moderation we are only now able to congratulate all the students on passing their exam. 100% pass rate is exceptional and the number of merits and distinctions is at a record high. Well done to all the students who have put in many hours of practice and also their instrumental teachers for preparing them so well. A special mention to George Smith, Year 11, who passed his grade 8 cello with a high distinction mark; he is going on to represent not only Hertfordshire, but also nationally at a concert at the

2 Royal Albert Hall in London later this term. Well done also to Max Robinson, Year 11, who passed his grade 8 drum kit exam, adding to his grade 8 voice achieved last year; double grade 8 is few and far between. Lastly, a special mention to Dylan Rix, Year 8, who took not one, but two, exams on the same day in different instruments and managed to achieve a distinction in both piano and saxophone! Well done to all students on a fantastic set of results. Rugby Results from matches against Haileybury are below: Year 8 A Won 7-2 Year 8 B Won 12-3 Year 7 A Lost 3-2 Year 7 B/C teams played in a very competitive and entertaining training match. The RHS Black and Yellow teams played each other in 3 x 12 minute matches with some players selected to play in a mini triangular tournament with Haileybury B. This was a fantastic experience for all involved with the final result and winner being the game of rugby. Last Friday saw the end of the Year 10 s NatWest Vase run. To reach the last 8 is a fantastic achievement and the boys should be proud of this. It is the furthest a RHS team has ever reached. We travelled to Kenilworth School in good spirits and confident we could get a result. Unfortunately, the journey up was hampered by multiple traffic issues which resulted in a delayed kick off and not the preparation we had intended. Kenilworth started the brighter of the two teams and caught us off guard to score two early tries. The pitch was wet and heavy and didn t suit fast paced rugby and it was clearly going to be a battle with the forwards. A superb individual try from Alex Omole reduced the deficit before half time to give us hope going into the break. Due to disciplinary issues we continued to give away cheap penalties and handing over possession far too easily, which put us on the back foot for the majority of the second half. Kenilworth were a well organised team who executed a couple of tries which ended up being the difference between the two sides. Richard Hale finished the match the stronger of the two teams and scored another well worked try by Angus McGuinness but unfortunately we had left it too late and the score finished to Kenilworth. This was the last match this team would play together before moving into senior rugby at school so both Mr Williams and Mr Clay would like to thank all of the boys who have represented this team over the past three years for their time and effort. Football There has been a feast of football recently with plenty of goals. The A teams were in weekend action against Simon Balle with the following results: Year 7A Won 4-3 Year 7B Drew 3-3 Year 8 Won 2-0 Year 9 Won 4-2 Year 10 Won 3-2 The B teams followed this up with some great performances against John Warner. Results were as follows:

3 Year 7 Won 4-1 Year 8 Lost 2-0 Year 9 Won 10-1 Year 10 Lost 4-1 Cross Country On a very cold and damp Saturday the Herts Cross Country Championships took place in Verulamium Park, St Albans. The first races of the day started at 10am with the Year 5/6 pupils and after the course had been well and truly churned up the last race of the day at 1.25pm saw a huge field of 128 athletes competing in the Year 7 pre-junior boys race. A challenging course saw athletes have to cope with steep uphill sections as well as slippery descents over the damp undulating 2,600m course. The field was tightly packed until the last lap where athletes began to separate as fatigue set in. George Ward was well placed in 2 nd place and during the final descent towards the finish he made his move to overtake and hang on to the lead as he crossed the line for a well-deserved victory. George Reilly and Ben Carter also fought hard to stay in the top half of the race and finished the course in a respectable 17 th place and 35 th place respectively. Well done to all the athletes that took part. Basketball The Year 8 basketball team played against Longdean School at home on Tuesday. The opposition applied full court pressure for the entire game, something that we have really struggled with this season. The boys coped much better with the pressure than they have in the past and were generally able to get free and advance the ball up the court. Unfortunately, when in their halfcourt offense Richard Hale struggled to find any flow and Longdean clearly had the advantage. In the second half the boys were much better at meeting (and occasionally exceeding) the energy of the opposition. When we played with force and made quick decisions we looked the better team. However, too much of the game had already been spent on the back foot and it finished in Longdean's favour. As such, we concluded our regular season with a record of 4 wins and 3 losses, which currently puts us in 2 nd place in the league. If things remain this way until the fixture deadline we will have earned a semi-final berth with home court advantage as well. By the time this game rolls around the boys need to have learnt how to thrive against defensive pressure, rather than just survive it. Are social media more of a curse than a blessing? The latest Sixth Form debate focussed on an issue of growing public concern: the use and abuse of social media. With a range of ills, including cyber bullying, radicalisation, teenage depression and fake news being laid at the door of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it seemed appropriate to consider the value of social media as a whole. The case for the question was put by Year 12 debaters, Max Wilkinson, Marcus Blowers and Bronwyn Bailey, who argued that social media often create and amplify divisions, even hatred, within the community, enabling bullies to throw racist and sexist abuse at victims under the cover of anonymity. While some of the concerns were conceded by the opposing team of Will Tyrer, Ewan Wilson and Safiyat Jibril, they proposed that the benefits - freedom of speech, choice and social mobility - more than outweigh the drawbacks. Skilfully chaired by Sam MacMillan, the debate was eventually won by the opposing side but not before each speaker made some excellent points. Remembering the Holocaust At the end of January some of our students took part in two events marking the Holocaust, including the East Herts Council commemoration. Earlier that week Ollie Dixon, Annabel Ross, Max

4 Wilkinson and Yusuf Ben-Tarifite attended the Hertfordshire schools' Holocaust Memorial event held at Dame Alice Owen's School, which consisted of presentations from a variety of schools in the county. The multi-media event included theatrical performances, candle lighting, clips of documentaries and speeches regarding the Holocaust and other recent genocides. It brought how we arguably have not learned from our mistakes due to the genocides since the Holocausts such as Rwanda, Cambodia and the ongoing genocide in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. They were privileged to be able to hear from Ziggi Shipper who described growing up in Poland before and after World War 2, the hardships of living in a ghetto and the inhumane treatment he faced at a labour camp. When reading about the Holocaust it s easy to gloss over the numbers and see it just as a statistic so hearing a survivor speaking directly and personally about their experiences is more meaningful. Yusuf commented, 'Every testimony we've heard as Lessons from Auschwitz Ambassadors has been unique. It illustrates how every survivor has their own story, their own personality and that showed how incomprehensible it is to imagine all those lives being lost. Quite a poignant point made during the presentations was that there would be fewer survivors able to speak or alive as the years go by so the need for reflecting, commemorating and learning from our collective mistakes has never been greater.' RHSPA Quiz Night Friday 2 nd March 2018 Kris Munt, our RHSPA quiz master, has another fun quiz for you. Teams of up to 8 people, 8 per person. Drinks from 7.30pm, quiz starts promptly at 8pm. We have a licensed bar, but do bring your own nibbles. Prize for the winning table. Please parentassoc@richardhale.co.uk to reserve your table. Admissions Consultation Following the consultation on admissions for The Governors have decided not to pursue the cross-sibling rule with Presdales at this time. For further details please see the statement on the school s website. Pupil News Congratulations to: Noah McCallig, Year 8, has been selected to attend the 24 th World Scout Jamboree being held in West Virginia, USA, next summer (2019). Oscar Trotter, Year 8, took part in the Midlands Taekwondo Championships as a 1 st Dan Black belt. Oscar won Bronze in sparring in his weight category as a Black belt. Great achievement as the competition was tough. Charley Roper, Year 7, competed at the Spelthorne Acro Cup 2018 on Saturday and came away with a Silver medal in the Grade 2 mixed pairs acrobatics. Ian Hawkins Headteacher Forthcoming Events

5 February Monday 12 th Monday 19 th Wednesday 21 st Thursday 22 nd Friday 23 rd Monday 26 th Wednesday 28 th March Thursday 1 st Friday 2 nd Monday 5 th Thursday 8 th Saturday 10 th Tuesday 13 th Wednesday 14 th Friday 16 th Thursday 22 nd Friday 23 rd Monday 26 th Tuesday 27 th Thursday 29 th Friday 30 th Friday 13 th April Monday 16 th Half Term Return to school GCSE MFL Written Exams to the 23 rd Year 7/8 History Squad Visit Year 10 Immunisations Year 12 French Study Day Year 12 Mid-term assessments to the 2 nd Year 9 Parents Evening Year 11 & 13 Photographs Year 13 French Study Day PA Quiz Night Year 7 Broxbourne Study Day Year 8 Charity Week Year 7 Parents Evening Year 10 Bronze DofE Training Day GCSE Food Tech practical exams to the 15 th Year 9/10 French Exchange return to RHS to the 21 st Year 12 Further Maths Conference RHA Dinner House Music Non-Uniform Day GCSE Art Exam AS/A2 MFL Mock Oral Exams to the 28 th GCSE Art Exam Senior Colours Assembly School finishes at Easter Holiday Return to school Forthcoming Weeks Monday 12 th February Half Term Monday 19 th February Week 1 Monday 26 th February Week 2 Monday 5 th March Week 1 Monday 12 th March Week 2 Monday 19 th March Week 1 Monday 26 th March Week 2 Easter Break Monday 16 th April Week 1

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