Half term and Halloween

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It’s October which  means two things; half-term and Halloween.

Halloween has long given concern to parents as well as the general public. Largely this has been due to anti-social behaviour, social disorder linked to trick or treating, house party overspills, late opening hours in the nightlife sector and so on.

There are risks lurking for children and young people. These secondary dangers including unsafe costume design, and the low nocturnal visibility of participants have been addressed in a recent article from the Child Accident Prevention Trust.

https://capt.org.uk/halloween/?utm_source=capt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=parentsoct25&mc_cid=376a41f0ed&mc_eid=d72f37d350

 

Ms L Gibbons
Assistant Headteacher

Year 9 Calshot Trip

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We are delighted to report that the recent Year 9 residential trip to Calshot was a tremendous success.

Taking place over several days, the trip provided students with an exciting opportunity to challenge themselves, develop new skills, and enjoy a wide range of outdoor and adventure activities in a safe and supportive environment.

Throughout the trip, students took part in a variety of activities, including:

  • Kayaking – developing teamwork, water confidence, and paddling techniques
  • Skiing and Snowboarding – learning the fundamentals of winter sports on the indoor slopes
  • Rifle Shooting and Archery – improving focus, control, and coordination
  • Climbing, and Team Challenges – encouraging perseverance and cooperation

All students behaved exceptionally well throughout the trip and were a credit to the school. Staff at Calshot were highly complimentary of their respectful attitude, willingness to participate, and enthusiasm across all activities.

It was clear that students thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Many overcame personal challenges, tried new activities for the first time, and built stronger relationships with their peers and teachers. The atmosphere was one of encouragement, support, and fun – creating lasting memories for everyone involved.

Best wishes,

Mr M Brooks
Head of Year 9

St Albans Community Showcase at the Cathedral – Saturday 25th October 11-3pm

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Discover over 50 charities and community organisations at the St Albans Community Showcase on Saturday, October 25th, from 11:00am to 3:00pm in the Nave of St Albans Cathedral.

Learn about their impactful work, explore volunteer opportunities, and get inspired. This is a FREE event, no tickets needed—just drop by for a day of community spirit and inspiration. See you there!

For more information, please head to: https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event/st-albans-community-showcase

Mrs H Line
Deputy Headteacher

Lost Property Items

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Please see the below lost property items we currently have in student reception.

If you or your child recognises any of these items, please can they be collected by Friday 7th November, before items are donated or repurposed. 

Thank you,

Student Services Team

Youth Talk- Parent Groups

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Please see the below attachment from Youth Talk about their upcoming parent group.

Crime Scene Comes to Classroom for Year 13 Criminology Students

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Our Year 13 Criminology students had a special visit from PC Alex Corr and Police Staff/Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO) Maya.

The morning kicked off with an interactive Q&A session where students got to hear first-hand about life as a police officer and the journey to becoming a forensic scientist or SOCO.

There were plenty of “myth-busting” moments, with students learning that policing in real life isn’t always like what you see on TV. PC Corr and Maya shared real stories from their careers — the highs, the challenges, and the reality of working in the Police Service and meeting the public every day.

The visit fitted perfectly with the students’ current topic, “Crime Scene to Courtroom.” Everyone got involved in hands-on activities — some experienced being “arrested” and giving their fingerprints as evidence, while others stepped into the shoes of a police officer or SOCO, learning how to dust for prints and hunt for clues.

Emmanuel M stated that ‘I found it truly inspiring and I am definitely going to think about looking at careers in the police force’

A big thank you to PC Corr and Maya for spending the morning with us and making this such a fun, insightful and memorable experience for our students!

Criminology is one of our most popular courses at Sixth Form, you can find out more information about the course by speaking to Mr Tominey or Mr Bremner, and by visiting us on Sixth Form Open Evening. Please book tickets for our Open Evening via Eventbrite- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/townsend-c-of-e-sixth-form-open-evening-tickets-1781182959179 

Mr M Tominey
Head of Sixth Form

PE Round Up

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This week has seen a number of fixtures taking place, reports of these fixtures can be found below:

Year 10 Football vs Hitchin Boys (friendly)

The year 10 boys won 12-0 in this friendly fixture.

Mr A King

Senior Football vs Marlborough

The senior football team rounded off the term in emphatic fashion with a commanding victory against consortium partners Marlborough.

Despite a slow start and several new faces in the line-up from both the Sixth Form and Year 11, the team soon found their rhythm. After 15 minutes, Theo O opened the scoring with a composed finish to put us ahead. Further goals from Josiah A. Scoring a wonderful 25-yard effort and another from Theo O extended the advantage, sending the team into half-time with a comfortable 3–0 lead.

Although the first-half performance fell short of the team’s usual high standards, the second half saw a marked improvement. Saeed capped off a superb team move shortly after the restart, a goal that the crowd described as “one of the best we’ve seen.” Emmanuel M then produced two outstanding individual efforts, with Josiah A adding his second of the match to complete a dominant display.

A late lapse in concentration allowed Marlborough to grab a consolation goal, but it did little to take the shine off an excellent performance. The match provided valuable opportunities to introduce new players and trial different formations, rounding off the term’s fixtures in style.

The senior team will return to action after the half-term break in the County Cup Plate against Dame Alice Owen’s School (DAO).

POTM: Emmanuel M & Josiah A

 

Upcoming fixtures:

Monday 20th October – Year 9 football vs Astley Cooper

Monday 20th October – Year 7 football vs Highfield

Monday 20th October – Year 8 Girls football vs STAGS

Tuesday 21st October – Year 9 girls football vs Queens

Wednesday 22nd October – Year 8 football vs SRA

Wednesday 22nd October – Year 11 football vs NBS

Netball fixtures kick off after October half term so all involved keep your eyes peeled for those dates

Miss M Jones
Head of PE 

STARS Education Secondary School of the Year 2025/26 Awards

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Modeshift STARS Education run a programme that supports schools to work towards safer and more sustainable travel to school through a series of objectives for all schools to work towards.

Last year we achieved an Outstanding award for our Travel Plan including getting public buses to pick students up on our school site.

On Tuesday we were invited to attend the Local and Regional awards as one of the 160 nationwide schools nominated for an award.

The newly formed Eco-Council attended the awards ceremony with myself and Mrs Line, it was a fun event with interaction with other schools across the nation learning more about what a mascot is and why we have mascots as this was their theme this year. Then the awards took place first of all naming the Local Authority awards where we won for Hertfordshire and the Regional awards where we also won the East of England Award.

The Eco-Council are very keen to get started on lots of projects and to keep the Sustainable Transport status we have, we shall publish our progress throughout the year and hope to maintain our outstanding Status.

Sustainable Townsend Logo Competition

After a range of fantastic entries a group of judges including Mr Flack and other members of the SLT team took to voting for the winners. I am very proud to announce that the winners were:

In first place, with their logo being used on all Sustainable Townsend communications and presentations from here onward – Vedanshi J 7E

In second place – Jessie B 7D

and third place – Zaynab H 7D

I would like to remind everyone that Sustainable Townsend competitions are open to all year groups to take part and the deadline for the first photography competition is fast approaching. All entrants will receive house points for their entries and I look forward to celebrating winning entries here and in collective worships with the students. Good luck.

Miss C Reynolds
Sustainability Lead

Books authored by Andy Cope- please read

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Please see the below information from Hertfordshire County Council. 

‘The children’s publisher Puffin has issued an alert regarding books authored by Andy Cope including those in the Spy Dogs, Spy Cats, and Spy Pup series.

Within the books, there is a link which encourages children to find out about additional information told during the story. The link is intended to take children to Mr Cope’s webpage, however the domain is no longer owned by him and instead the link will direct children to a webpage now owned by a third party. This third party is publishing pornographic content. There is no suggestion that Puffin or Mr Cope are responsible for the pornographic materials, and the content of the actual stories are fine to read, however if any children access the link with the intent to learn more about the story online they will be exposed to highly inappropriate materials.  

 Puffin has paused sales, and libraries and retailers have removed these books from their shelves until further notice.’

Upcoming Events

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Please see the below flyers about upcoming local events.

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