Model Railway Exhibition Saturday and Sunday at Townsend

St Albans Model Engineering Society the BIG MODEL SHOW 2014 Free miniature train rides; Model locomotives & Stationary engines in steam; Model boats; Free ‘Have-a-go' radio controlled model boats; Meccano displays; RNLI and visiting club stands; Helicopter and Model Aircraft flying displays; Model Railway layouts; Large radio controlled Model Truck display: plus a whole lot more… Larger than ever exhibition with additional hall this year. Refreshments available and free parking Admission: Adults £4 Children £1 Further detail and map at www.stalbansmes.com

10.00am – 5.00pm each day

A big thank you

Thank you to all staff, governors, students and parents who helped with open evening last night.  It was a fantastic evening, the school looked great and so many people came through the doors with such complimentary words about Townsend.

If you missed open evening, please do contact the school to arrange a short tour round to see us in action on a normal school day.

Open evening tonight!

Townsend School's Open Evening takes place tonight at 6pm and runs until 9pm.  Parents - please do welcome anyone you know who has a child in Year 6 to come along and pay us a visit to see the wonderful things we do at the school!

All children are welcome at Townsend, whether they have a faith or not and regardless of which faith they follow.

Duke of Edingburgh award

Current Year 11 students completed their Bronze Duke of Edingburgh expedition on 13th September at Little Gaddesden.  Twenty six participants all passed their expedition section - well done to you all!

Another twenty two participants are out this weekend - fingers crossed for good weather!

Fifteen students completed their Silver expedition last term, with another new group of students signing up for the award - forty one students from year 10 will be beginning their Bronze award.

Their twelve week fire skills course will be running early next year, we are just awaiting dates from St Albans Fire Station.

If you need any help or advice please visit Mrs Liddington and Mrs Forster any Tuesday lunchtime at their drop in sessions in IT4.

For now, enjoy some photos form last year's expeditions!

Open evening tomorrow

Don't forget open evening for Townsend is tomorrow night from 6pm to 9pm.  Please do let others know, especially if they have children in years 5 and 6 who are looking for schools next year.  Townsend takes students of all or no faiths, from a wide area of Hertfordshire including Hatfield, Welwyn, St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Barnet and even Luton, Bedfordshire.

Visit to Nash Mills

Today the Head students and Miss Ismail went on another primary school visit, this time to Nash Mills CE primary school for another assembly delivering information about secondary school life.  The students were very enthusiastic about asking questions, with a lot of information being delivered so their worries and questions were answered.  Their head teacher asked them at the end if they felt a bit better about it, which they all did!

Chess Club with Mr Hollingberry

Last Friday saw the second week of chess club with Mr Hollingberry, which takes place in the Discovery Centre.  Lots of students attended, with assisted help in learning how to play.  To join chess club, come along Friday lunchtime to the Discovery Centre to see what it's all about!

Book club Friday lunchtimes

Miss Noble and Miss Ismail have begun their book club again, open to years 7 and 8 students.  This runs on a Friday lunchtime in the Discovery centre, helping to promote literacy and a wider reading culture.  Pop along to see what's happening this week!

Primary School visit yesterday

Yesterday afternoon two of the Head students and Miss Ismail went to St Paul's CE primary school to give an assembly to the year 5 and 6 students about transitions to secondary school.  The assembly was designed to give students a bit more information and a more accurate idea of what secondary school is like.  The assembly also gave the students a chance to ask any questions they may have, or to air any worries about changing schools.  The students were great to talk to, they had lots of questions and weren't afraid to ask!  We hope they enjoyed their assembly and feel a little bit less worried now!

A selection of images from Roald Dahl Day last Friday!

Roald Dahl Day celebrations and Year 7 competition

A reminder that tomorrow we are celebrating Roald Dahl Day in the Discovery Centre, come along to hear teachers reading their favourite Roald Dahl books!

This celebration is in conjunction with a year 7 Roald Dahl competition, where year 7 students will be writing their own Roald Dahl inspired story.  The best two per form will be judged by Miss Noble (English director of learning) who will award the winner with a prize!

Abbey Service today at 2:00pm

Today is the first St Albans Abbey Cathedral service of the academic year, starting at 2:00pm.  For year 7 this is an exciting time as this may be the first time they have seen or been inside the beautiful building.  They are privileged to receive a short tour round the abbey before the rest of the school arrives and joins then ready for the service begin.  Enjoy your visit year 7, it is a very special day!

Clubs are starting this week

All students should be receiving the official clubs timetable this week, ready to start the numerous clubs available.  Students are advised to join at least a couple of clubs to keep up hobbies and social activities as well as the opportunities to meet new people who also share the same interests.

Don't forget homework club begins tonight 3:25 - 5:00pm in the Discovery Centre with Mrs Forster and Mrs Stevens!

Year 7 after their first week.

The rest of the year 7 forms had their induction to the Discovery centre today during their TLC lesson with Miss Lingwood.  When she asked if there was anything negative about last week, one student replied "that we had to have a weekend!!"  It's so lovely to hear that the year 7 students have settled in well and are enjoying being at Townsend school!

Year 7 Discovery Centre Induction

Today 7Exeter received an induction to the Discovery centre as part of their Townsend Learning Community lesson.  Miss Ismail explained the centre's way of running to the students, then played a game which involved students having riddles to solve with the answers being something in the centre.  The students had to work out what the riddle was asking them to find, then find where it was so they became more familiar with where everything is in the centre to encourage independent learning.

Don't forget year 7 that Miss Ismail is always on hand in the Discovery Centre if you need any advice or help, or even if you would just like to chat at breaks or lunches!

Year 7 settling into lessons

Over the past couple of days, Year 7 students have been involved in a number of different lessons including English, Maths and Science.

In English with Mr Glanville, students had to answer what makes a great story.  One student said it was nice to hear other people's views!

In Maths with Miss Harvey, students had to work out the answer to a mathematical question from pop group JLS (given via print outs, unfortunately not the real thing!)

And in Miss Anthony's Science class students worked their way round the Science lab answering if a substance was either a solid, liquid or gas!

School photos

This morning each form group had their photos taken to be displayed in their form rooms and year noticeboards in the corridors.  Year 7 also had their individual photos taken - parents you will be able to view these soon, with the students proudly showing off their purple blazers!

Welcome to years 8, 9, 10, 11. 13

Welcome back to all years 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 students.  We hope you had a lovely summer and are raring to get back into school to begin working hard again!

First Day for Year 7 students at Townsend

This morning year 7 students began their first day at Townsend C of E secondary school.  Headteacher Mr Wellbeloved and Mr Buckland, Director of Learning for years 7 and 8 welcomed the students in an assembly, before the students started their various activities of the day.

First was form time - where students met their form teachers again as well as getting to know their form rooms and the rest of their forms, whether Exeter, Canterbury or Durham.  During form time, students were given their Achievement and Record books - their diaries - where they recorded their timetable of lessons and homework timetable.  Students were also given locker keys for their lockers located in their form rooms.

For the rest of the morning, the thee forms rotated round different activities.  One activity was in the Gym, concentrating on team building, where the students had to stand on benches and put themselves in height order without touching the ground when moving!!  They then had to pass a hula hoop between them quickly, then adding more and more hoops!

In the Discovery Centre, the activities helped the students to begin thinking about Christian values, taking part in discussions about forgiveness, how to deal with different situations that may arise and finally, recognising values and including them in everyday life.  These included tolerance, care, respect, understanding and inclusion.

The final part of the morning's activities was a quiz in which students had to make their way round school to find the answers to the questions, including a visit to the Discovery centre, gym and canteen!

Bake off winners!

So we left last term on a cliff hanger waiting for the results of the Staff vs students bake off and theyre finally in!!

A big well done to Mrs Town who won the bake off with her caramel muffins.  A close runner up was Mr Wellbeloved in the showstopper challenge!  A big thank you to MRs Barlow and Mrs Cartwright for blind judging the competition, as well as a massive thank you to the five members of staff, year 7, 8 and sixth form students who all took part and did really well!

Respect for all - a key aspet of Townsend

 

RESPECT FOR ALL

At Townsend we believe that every person is equally important and that no-one has a right to harass, insult or cause offence to any other person for any reason.  We particularly reject the way that some people abuse others:

• because they are richer or poorer, older or younger,
• because they are small or tall, thin or fat,
• because of the colour of their skin,
• because they are male or because they are female,
• because they are a teacher or a pupil,
• because of their religion,
• because of handicap or personal problems,
• because of their looks or what they wear,
• because of their likes and dislikes,
• because they are popular or unpopular,
• because  of their ability or lack of ability,
• because of their nationality or accent,

We are all individuals with differences, but we are all members of Townsend and can learn from each other.

Welcome back!

Today is the first day of the brand new term for students in years 7 and 12, with staff already in school yesterday for their INSET day.  We hope you all had a lovely break and are ready to get back into the swing of school again!

To all new students starting in year 7 welcome and we look forward to meeting you all on your exciting first day!

To all Year 12 students, we are looking forward to you returning to us after your excellent GCSE results over summer.

Enjoy the day everybody!