Please see the below poster about our upcoming Christmas Shop which has been organised by our PTA (Friends of Townsend).

 

Our Christingle Cathedral Service is taking place on Tuesday 16th December at St Albans Cathedral (2pm-3pm).

We are very much looking forward to our next service at the cathedral on Tuesday 16th December at 2pm, where Year 7 will be processing with Christingles. If you would like to book a seat, please email admin@townsend.herts.sch.uk. Please do remember that students will need to make their own way home from the abbey at 3pm, when the service finishes.

Mrs H Line
Deputy Headteacher

 

 

There are three events at the end of this term, for which we are collecting monetary donations for Diabetes UK, a charity chosen by our Head Student team.

These events are: 

Christmas jumper day on Wednesday 10th December – students are expected to wear full school inform but with a Christmas jumper.

Christingle service giving on Tuesday 16th December.

Non-uniform day on Friday 19th December.

We are not expecting three donations from each student, but just one donation that will cover all events.

Donations can be made by:

Cash or card payments – Head Students will be visiting form groups next week

School gateway – for parents/carers

Many thanks for your support,

Mrs H Line
Deputy Headteacher

Roblox has announced one of its most significant safety upgrades yet: children will soon be prevented from chatting with unknown adults, as part of a global rollout of strengthened protections for young users.

Starting in December for Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands – and expanding worldwide in January – Roblox will require age verification for all accounts that use chat features. The move follows increasing pressure from regulators, safety organisations, and parents concerned about child protection on gaming platforms.

 Roblox is introducing two verification methods to ensure safer interactions:

Age ID Verification (for users 13+)

Players aged 13 or older can verify their identity using a government-issued ID. The process takes just a few minutes:

Go to Settings → Account Info

Select “Continue with ID”

Scan a passport, driver’s licence, residency card, or other official ID

Take a selfie to match the ID

Receive immediate pass/fail confirmation

Facial Age Estimation (for younger users)

For younger players, Roblox will use facial age estimation to place users into age bands (Under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, 21+) and automatically restrict who they can chat with. Children under 13 will continue to be blocked from private messaging unless a parent grants permission.

With more than 80 million daily users, many of them children, these changes aim to reduce well-documented risks raised by safety groups – including the NSPCC – and help platforms meet rising regulatory expectations such as the UK’s Online Safety Act.

Roblox is now the first major gaming platform to implement facial age verification for chat, signalling what may become a major step toward more proactive, verifiable digital safety across the industry.

Ms L Gibbons
Assistant Headteacher

On Wednesday 18th November, Henry from Year 8 represented Townsend School in the Rotary Young Chef competition, hosted at The Stables Restaurant at Oaklands College.

Below is Henry’s written experience of the event: On Wednesday, I participated in a Rotary Club Young Chefs competition, thanks to the brilliant suggestion of Mrs Johnson. To sum up my experience, it was fun and stressful when I was cooking and terrifying when we were waiting for the judges to decide on who won. Sadly, I did not make it to the podium but I was awarded a certificate which was presented to me by the Mayor of St Albans. I made salmon á la pesto, with couscous, pomegranate seeds and baby spinach, served with a side of samphire, for my main course (which turned out amazingly) and then for my dessert I made an apricot sponge with custard (which unfortunately didn’t turn out so amazingly).

The competition was held in the kitchens at Stables restaurant at Oaklands College, and it was an exciting experience to work in a professional kitchen. While I loved the whole evening, the worst bit was definitely having to do all the washing up afterwards… Overall, though, I just can’t wait for next year’s competition. Finally, a big thank you to Mrs Johnson for helping me through the entire experience.

Mrs J Johnson
Food Technology Teacher