Presdales Colour Run in Memory of Ms Rowe

October 22, 2026/in Events, General News, Information /by Presdales School

Fundraising for Isabel Hospice 🌈🏃‍♀️

On the afternoon of Thursday 5th November, our whole school will take part in a 2km Colour Run in aid of Isabel Hospice, in memory of our much-loved teacher and colleague, Ms Samantha Rowe.

Ms Rowe was a passionate runner, and we can’t think of a better way to honour her than moving together and supporting the hospice that took such wonderful care of her earlier this year.

Key Event Details

Format: All students will run, jog, or walk a 2km cross-country route on school grounds.
Colour Stations: Non-toxic, biodegradable colour powder will be thrown at stations along the route. This is completely optional – a “no-colour lane” will be available at every station for students who prefer to stay powder-free.

Colour Powder Options & Wisepay

If your child wants to participate in the colour stations, please pay and give consent via Wisepay by Thursday 22nd October:

Paint + UV400 Sunglasses: £5
Paint Only: £3
No Colour Powder: Free

(Students participating in the paint will receive a wristband on the day. Those choosing the £5 option will receive sunglasses in an assorted bright colour.)

How to Prepare

What to Wear: Old clothes you don’t mind getting dirty (a plain white T-shirt works best!). Sunglasses are essential for eye protection.
Footwear: Comfortable running shoes or old trainers.
After the Event: Bring a plastic bag to carry stained clothing home.
Health Note: The powder is safe and non-toxic, but students with sensitive skin, eyes, or respiratory conditions (e.g., asthma) should take extra care or contact the pastoral team/Mrs Evenden.

Sponsorship & Fundraising

As this is a charity event, we encourage everyone to share our JustGiving page with friends and family to raise as much as possible for Isabel Hospice.

Thank you for your support in making this a memorable afternoon for our school community! If you have any questions or medical concerns, please get in touch with Mrs Evenden.

PE Stars of the Month – September

October 15, 2026/in Sport /by Presdales School

Global Week of Languages and Cultures 2026

October 15, 2026/in Other lang information /by Presdales School

During the week of 28th September, the Presdales community came together to celebrate the Global Week of Languages and Cultures, highlighting our rich linguistic and cultural diversity.

Students experienced a world of culture throughout the week. Form tutors started each morning by greeting their classes in a different language, while language lessons featured cultural research into international music, famous brands, regional cuisine, and local history. The celebration extended to the canteen, which served a delicious menu of international dishes representing the languages taught at Presdales: French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.

A major highlight took place on Monday lunchtime, when nearly 50 students hosted an international food tasting. Students prepared traditional dishes from around the world and had a fantastic time sharing and sampling each other’s culinary creations.

Important Information – Issue 169

October 15, 2026/in Important Information /by Presdales School

News from Art

October 15, 2026/in Art, Events, General News /by Presdales School

Year 7 Pencil Case Observation

Year 7 have impressed us with their dedication during their recent baseline art assessments! Over two lessons, they created detailed observational drawings of their pencil cases, focusing on scale, composition, and smooth tonal shading. Take a look at a selection of their impressive work below – well done, Year 7!

Year 10 Art Update

We are delighted to share the fantastic work our Year 10 Art students have been producing!

The students have been diving into a sweet-themed art project, starting with coloured pencils to master layering and blending techniques for bold, vibrant designs. They are currently experimenting with biro and fineliner pens – exploring scale, intricate patterns, shadows, and tone to create impressive, enlarged drawings.

After half term, the class will apply these skills to painting.

A huge well done to Year 10 for their wonderful effort and enthusiasm.

News from Design & Technology

October 15, 2026/in DT, Events, General News /by Presdales School

Year 8 Product Design – Woods Research

Year 8 students are currently part-way through their term of product Design where they will go onto make an eco-speaker.

As part of the research stage, students have to find out lots about different types of wood, the preparation of timbers and also learn about sustainability. In our lesson on Tuesday 30th September, students were given the task of presenting their research in a fun yet informative way. 8PQ2 produced some fantastic work, which you can see in the images. One student even asked her grandfather for some small pieces of wood that she could include, and asked him to check that her research was correct.

Students have learnt about deciduous and coniferous trees, hardwoods and softwoods as well as manufactured wood and why this is a good material to use as it also helps the environment.

We are very pleased with the outcomes of the information leaflets and can see the effort Year 8 have put into them.

Design & Technology Department

News from Careers

October 2, 2026/in Careers /by Presdales School

News from English

October 2, 2026/in English /by Presdales School

Poetry Competition

7WA’s entry for the form poetry competition to celebrate National Poetry Day:

Wonder

I look at the world and I wonder

Why the summer fruit smells so sweet

Why the autumn leaves snap and crunch on the ground

Why the snowflakes shine like diamonds

Why the spring flowers blossom with an illuminate shine

Why the running rain so sweet to dance in

Why the rainbow brings us joy

Why do the mountains look so magical at night

Why the rivers flow on without ever looking back at the stone beds it passed on the way

Why the sea breezes with ease

Why the desert burns with heat

Why the forest twinkles in the light

Why the clouds are like fluffy sheep flying about in the azure sky above me

Why the wind blows us away with blinding beauty

Why the morning dew makes us feel alive… so alive

Why the ocean breeze sprays us in the fresh morning air giving us a taste of the ocean water

Why the soil nurtures the delicate flowers

Why the lightning dances ruthlessly across the sky

Why the thunder echoes in in my ear like nature is crying

Why the trees rustle in the gentle breeze

Why the morning mist is cold as it blankets our feet

Why the rays of sunshine fade away at nightfall

Why the pebbles are smooth and waterworn, being washed away with the cerulean, glistening waves

Why the ladybirds fly around the beautiful fields and forests bringing brightness everywhere around

Why the spiderwebs are lacy with intricate details glimmering in the night sky

Why the waterfalls fall down, while spraying everyone with their cold clear water

Why the blades of grass tickle my toes

Why the hailstones bounce off my cheek and leave a little sting

Why the meadows are ambushed with pollen scented flowers

Why the seashells are on the beach making the sound of the sea

Why the waves hit the coast in a roarsome crash

I look at the world and I wonder who I am.

News from PE

October 2, 2026/in Sport /by Presdales School

Netball

U13s

A great start to the netball season for the U13 team winning 18-17 in a close game against a strong STAHS team.

Unfortunately, due to time restraints, the quarters were shorter than normal, however the girls worked tirelessly throughout to hold their own.

OPOM – Fran and CPOM – Issy M

U14s

What a fantastic day for some of the Presdales U14s, who recently travelled to Queenswood to take part in the annual Stone X Cup tournament.

The girls got off to a superb start, winning all three of their round matches and progressing through to the quarter-finals. A closely fought first half was followed by a fantastic second half performance, as Presdales found their rhythm and took the game away convincingly!

The semi-final against Queenswood was another hard fought match, with the girls giving absolutely everything right until the final whistle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite meant to be, as they narrowly missed out on a place in the final by just two goals.

Great afternoon and experience all round. Thank you Mavericks netball!

Year 8

Well done to the Year 8 netballers who played Chauncy last week! The first team fought all match and ended up losing by 1 goal 23-24! So proud of their determination and resilience, especially in the last quarter as they started the 4th quarter down by 6.

Players Player – Eva and Oppositions Player – Tani

The second team won 26-16. Lovely movement and interceptions all over the court leading to goal – well done everyone!! Players Player – Cara and Oppositions Player – Lexie

Year 9

Well done to the 9 Netball teams that travelled to Berko last week for the first match in the County Cup. Both teams played some excellent netball throughout each quarter. The A team were up against a 6ft GS which proved difficult. They persevered throughout but unfortunately ended up in 2nd place. The B team dominated and won 30-16.

Oppositions coaches Player for the A team was Lily F, and players player was Lily B. The B teams player was Bella B.

Well done to all of you who played!!

Year 10

Well done to the Year 10 netball team who won their opening county cup netball match convincingly against Aldenham on Tuesday.

The ball was flowing seamlessly throughout the court and it was great to experiment with a variety of combinations.

Well done girls, great start to the season!

CPOM goes to Liv for her excellent movement in the circle and shooting.

Tournament

Well done to our fabulous netballers who recently participated in the first round of the Anne Miles Tournament at Stanborough.

The U14s had a great first outing at this level playing some brilliant netball finishing 3rd in their group.

The U16s had a tough group losing to the eventual two finalists and also resulting in a 3rd place finish.

The results might not have gone our way, but we’ll take the lessons from today, come back stronger, and keep pushing forward.

Cross Country

First Meet

Well done to our fab cross country runners who ran the first round of the District Cross Country League at Hertford Rugby Club!

Special mention to:

Gina in Year 7 who came 2nd

Olivia in Year 7 who came 6th

Millie in Year 9 who came 3rd

Lois in Year 9 who came 7th

Eileen in Year 8 who came 10th

Amelie in Year 10 who came 5th

Anna in Year 11 who came 6th

Jess in Year 11 who came 10th

Thank you also to Sophie F in Year 9 for stepping in at literally the last second to run for the Year 8/9 team!!

Second Meet

Fabulous effort from our cross country runners on Wednesday 30th September at the second race of the year. The course at Simon Balle always provides a challenge, but our athletes rose to it producing some incredible performances!

Big shout out to Vivienne who came back in first place for the minor girls.

Lois who was 5th for juniors and Ella who was 3rd for the seniors.

Superb squad performance – well done to all!

Hockey

Well done to all of the girls who recently took part in the T2 U14 County Hockey Tournament at Queenswood. This was the first time that this team had played together, the first time that some of our Year 7s have played 11 a-side and the first time Hannah played GK in hockey!

The girls did so well and showed great progress throughout the 3 games they played, culminating in a fantastic goal by Isabelle after a beautiful through ball left her 1 on 1 with the Queenswood GK. Isabelle kept her calm, spun round the keeper and cooly slotted home into an open goal!

There was some fantastic individual play, as well as some resilient defending. Hannah on her debut made some fantastic saves late on in our last game, coming out to close the angle on the advancing forwards.

Well done to all of the girls!

CPOT – Josephine for showing exceptionally stick work on the ball and a tactical eye for the game through her distribution.

Football

U14s

v STAGS

Well done to the U14s who played in a tightly fort match against STAGS at the end of September in the first round of the Cup. A quick start, due to starting over 45 minutes late, and the opposition put a goal in from distance straight away. We settled ourselves and then quickly equalised. Lots of back and forth, reactive passes, but the girls started to settle themselves and started moving the ball around nicely. Two more goals each meant at the end of the game it was 3-3. Straight to penalties!

Presdales up first and scoring first, STAGS equalised. 2-1 up to us and a fine save from Hannah kept us at 2-1. 2 more goals in the back of the net for us and another save put us through to the next round of the cup!

Well done all of you, a great team performance showing great sportsmanship!

v Goffs

On 8th October, our U14 football team faced Goffs in the District League, with a full substitutes’ bench and plenty of determination ready for kick-off!

The girls got off to a flying start, finding the back of the net within the opening minutes to take an early 1–0 lead. From that moment on, they continued to play with confidence, power and determination, demonstrating excellent teamwork and attacking football throughout the match.

The goals kept coming, with the team scoring a further nine times, including a cracking free kick from Scarlet! The girls’ hard work and commitment paid off in style, securing an emphatic 10–0 victory!

Well done, girls! A fantastic team performance and an absolute pleasure to watch. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves!

v Leventhorpe

A fantastic performance from our U14s District team this week!

A brilliant football match against a strong Leventhorpe side, with the whole squad putting in an outstanding shift!

We took a well-deserved 3-goal lead into half-time before stepping it up another gear in the second half, adding a further four goals!

Superb finishing, excellent teamwork and some fantastic goalkeeping from Eva made it a brilliant all-round team performance. So much to be proud of from every player!

Goal scorers: Fran x2, Lily x2 and Izzy x3

Seven goals, a clean sheet of effort from the whole squad, and a performance to be proud of!

News from Languages

October 2, 2026/in Other lang information /by Presdales School

Wheatcroft Languages Day – 22nd September 2026

On 22nd June, 22 of our Language A Level students from Year 12 and 10 representing French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish volunteered to teach some language to classes 1- 6 at Wheatcroft Primary School during their European Language Day. Our students prepared some lively lessons and delivered them with great confidence and expertise. The organiser of the day at Wheatcroft said it was wonderful to see how inspired the children were by our students, and that the experiences had really helped to bring language learning to life for them. They are already going away discussing how they want to come to Presdales and learn languages! We were very proud of the contribution they made to the day.

Russian

Our Year 12 Russian students recently brought language and culture to life during an engaging visit to Wheatcroft Primary School! Leading an interactive session for Year 5 pupils, our sixth formers delivered an enthusiastic presentation on the history of iconic Matryoshka nesting dolls, alongside fascinating insights into traditional Russian musical instruments and performance styles. The Year 5 pupils got hands-on by decorating their very own Matryoshka dolls, practicing Russian alphabet sounds, and learning to write their names in Cyrillic script. The Wheatcroft students were wonderfully welcoming, thoroughly enjoying the warm, encouraging, and vibrant atmosphere created by our students. Huge congratulations to all involved for representing the school so brilliantly and inspiring the next generation of language learners!

French

Two Year 12 French students taught the French version of Head, shoulders, knees and toes to Year 1 whilst three others introduced good manners in French to order food. Emily, Lucy, Georgia, Laura and Catherine planned the whole lesson very thoroughly and with some engaging PowerPoint presentations and some written resources. They made sure that the language and the progression of the lesson were age appropriate. The Year 1 and the Year 3 classes loved the tasks and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all.

Spanish

Year 12 Spanish students did a great job of teaching the vocabulary for musical instruments in Spanish to Year 1 and different Spanish foods to Year 3 and 4. There were games, some speaking practice, colouring and labelling using new vocabulary, and discussion of differences between countries and cultures, especially in terms of different foods.

German

Year 12 and 13 German A Level students enthusiastically taught Years 4 and 5/6. They began with learning the colours in German and moved on to dancing and singing a well- known Karneval song called the Fliegerlied. There were games and a colour by numbers exercise as well as anagrams of colours to solve and lots of pronunciation practice.

Italian

Year 12 Italian students taught food-related lessons to Year 2 and Year 6 pupils. Year 2 learned ice cream flavours and how to order a ‘gelato’, while Year 6 learned about food more generally and were able to have conversations in Italian about which fruit they like and dislike.