Newsletters

October 2025

Message from the Headteacher

Firstly, thank you for your support for the PTA Fireworks event just before the half term holidays. We had more than 3,000 people attend and the final numbers are still being crunched, but it was clear that this will raise significant funds for supporting Verulam students. Thanks to the many parent volunteers who gave their time and particular thanks to our chair, Jane Gomez, who is the driving force behind the event.

Year 11 students also had a successful work experience week and we had some lovely feedback from local employers. Thank you if you were able to provide a work placement for your son or others, as it is becoming more difficult to secure enough work placements, presumably with the move to hybrid working. Work experience is moving to year 10 going forward and they will be out on their experience w/c 29^th June - please do contact us if you can support with a week's placement then.

We have held information evenings for all year groups in year 8 to 13, and the information from these can be found here: https://verulamschool.co.uk/Learning/Parents-Information-Evenings/. I will be honest to say that turnout, other than for year 11, was disappointing. One of the things that parents asked for in our last survey was improved communications and to know what is going on, so the annual information evenings to supplement the parent consultation evenings was one element of our response. Please look out for a short survey on this topic via email so we can understand what parents/carers want from these evenings going forward. On the topic of surveys, your children are undertaking a trust-wide pupil survey this week and we will share summarised results from this with you when we receive them.

Finally, just to flag that the traditional Abbey Service is on the afternoon of 27/11/25. This is an inter-faith event that has run since the foundation of the school, and we are delighted that the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Robert Voss, will be coming to address us on the theme of Kindness and community service. The school is closed for an Occasional Day on 28/11/25.

Now that evenings are dark, please remind your son/daughter about pedestrian and cycle safety. Although the roads around school are now a 20mph limit, young people seem absorbed on their phones or don't have lights/high-vis clothing when cycling, and I would want to avoid accidents on the journey to and from school.

Fergal Moane

Headteacher

Curriculum News

Step Back in Time: A Victorian Job Fair

Year 8 students have taken a creative leap back to 1830 as part of their Industrial Revolution unit in Mr Pettitt’s history class. In a recent lesson, the school canteen turned into a bustling Victorian Job Fair, giving students an experience of life during one of the most transformative - and challenging - periods in British history. Students explored 50+ different job roles from the Industrial era from nightsoilsmen and match makers to coal miners and chimney sweeps. They were tasked with one unusual challenge: find the worst job possible – the one with the harshest conditions, lowest pay or highest risk. It was a lively (and often grim!) reminder of the tough realities faced by many during the 19th century. The lesson sparked important conversations about child labour, workers' rights and how far we’ve come.

Mr J Pettitt.

PE Department Update:

It’s been another busy month for the PE Department, with a huge number of fixtures and clubs taking place across all year groups.

Our Year 9 Rugby Leaders have been putting their training into action by refereeing primary school festivals — a great opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills.

Golf lessons have also returned during Games sessions, and we’re delighted to celebrate our first piece of silverware this year! The Year 8 Table Tennis squad won the District Competition in dominant fashion, winning every single match. The boys will now go on to represent the District at the County Finals at the end of November.

We’ve also seen some fantastic achievements from our pupils and ex-pupils outside of school. Congratulations to former student George Brandt, who has been named First XI Captain at Haileybury, and to Jack Burke, who made his senior debut for MK Dons.

Mr L Errington

fixture list.pdf

Drama Department Update:

On Friday 3^rd October, the Year 11 GCSE Drama group headed to Watford Palace Theatre to see the acclaimed touring production of 'The Void' by Ryan Simons. A Sci-Fi dystopian gothic horror, this play was gold-dust for the Drama students, not just because it was a piece of theatre unlike any other, but because of the wealth of special effects, including AI-generated videos and weird sound effects. As the group will be writing about the play in their mock exam, they needed to see a piece which offered them plenty of scope for comment and analysis, and 'The Void' certainly didn't disappoint! Once again the students behaved excellently and were a credit to the school.

Mr N Moseley

New Science Labs and STEAM Club

It’s been a fantastic start to the school year in our brand new science labs, where students have been enjoying hands-on experiments in a fresh, modern environment. We’ve also relaunched our STEAM Club, which now runs every Thursday lunchtime and is led jointly with some of our science 6th form students. So far, students have created their own sparklers, tackled the egg drop challenge to protect fragile eggs from smashing, and watched an explosive metals demonstration that really went off with a bang!

Pastoral

News from our new Year 7s

As we come to the end of our first half term our new Year 7s have really set the standard and have made amazing first impressions of themselves. Despite some teething troubles with getting used to some of the homework systems and getting to grips with Google Classroom the boys have shown resilience and have gelled extremely well together reflecting the #Team7 motto working collaboratively and supporting each other.
This year we launched our behaviour curriculum where members of our Senior Leadership Team have being delivering lessons based on the basics and expectations as a Verulam student. This together with our pastoral programme has made a huge impact with very few negative points being logged and a large number of House Points and Letters of Recognition.

In sports we have started to see our first successes including coming second in the District Cross Country Mob Race (I was confident we were going to steal the crown this year but a respectable second place is still a tremendous achievement). Our A Team in football are springing into action and recently won a County Cup match againts Kings Langley and our Rugby team has made progress showing they are also great ambassadors for the school.

In non-sporting matters we have elected our School Council reps and are now making a valuable contribution to school life and student voice and we are about to elect our Form Reps with letters of application for the prestigious positions currently being written and submitted to their form tutors.

The FEED Project was an amazing success for Year 7. We collected more than half of the school total and smashed through my 1000 item target. Year 7 donated a whopping 1345 items for the Verso Care Food Bank, with 7Y in 1st place, 7P coming in second and 7H 3rd. 7B, 7C and 7J 4th, 5th and 6th respectfully.

Next half term I am looking forward to seeing Year 7 getting their first Blue Stag awards, representing the school at the Abbey Service, experiencing their first Curriculum Enrichment day and seeing many perform in the school production. So much to celebrate already and so much more to look forward to!

Mr L Knowles

Enrichment

Student Personal Development at Verulam
Culture Day
October has been a busy month for student personal development at Verulam. Culture Day on the 9th October saw students and staff proudly wearing relevant cultural dress and enjoying our cultural world cup themed football tournaments across the week during lunchtime. These games were organised and refereed by our Senior Prefect team – thank you to them for making these events so enjoyable for students lower down the school.
In addition, there was the chance to relax and enjoy listening to our Year 10 band and Sixth Form band in the pop up ‘Culture Café’ (more usually know as the main Hall!) at lunchtime.
We also had the pleasure of listening to fascinating workshops provided by FACE ) Faith and Cultural Enterprise) St. Albans. Andrene McDonald talked to us about her arrival in the UK from Jamaica as a small child. She then went on to explain the fascinating black history linked to St Albans and Hertfordshire. At the end of the workshop, students were encouraged to try traditional Caribbean food samples such as salt fish and dumplings – these went down very well! It was a surprising, memorable and varied presentation which will stay with our students for some while and encourage them to explore their own fascinating family heritage.

HPQ Trip to Southampton University
As our Year 13 students hand in their completed EPQ projects, Year 10 students have the opportunity to study an additional qualification – HPQ (Higher Project Qualification) which is the ‘little brother’ to the more familiar, EPQ studied in Sixth Form. This qualification is taught after school for two hours a week and so I commend those students who signed up and have demonstrated the resilience to keep going with this course in addition to keeping up with their not insignificant amount of GCSE course work.
In October, I took a group of HPQ students to a Study Day at Southampton University. Students were taught how to find relevant research using Boolean search methods (using AND, OR and NOT as part of the search criteria to define the output more effectively) and how to ‘call’ a book from the library. The researchers at the University talked to each student about their topic and helped them to refine their ideas and consider the phrasing of their research topic questions to ensure that their question was robust and interesting enough for them to pursue.
At lunchtime, students were free to walk around the campus and get a feel for what it might be like to be a ‘real’ student at University. After lunch, we went to the five storey Hadley Library and boys were shown how to locate precisely the books they ‘called’ earlier in the day.
The boys made excellent use of their time and were a credit to the school. The staff at the University were impressed with their focus and the range of topics they are exploring for their qualification.

Eco Council
Our active and engaged Eco Council have now refined the design of the Eco Council badge designed initially by Thomas Boulter in Year 8 and developed in DT by Harry Robinson one of our Senior Prefect Eco Council leaders. The badge will be made using off-cuts from the DT department to ensure that it is environmentally sustainable. Watch this space for a picture of the final badge when they have been produced!
Our major project this term is the School Pond. Many years ago (before my time and I have taught at Verulam for 14 years!) there was a pond behind the Science block. Having taken advice from the Wilder Schools Champions part of the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, we intend for the new pond to be created to the right of the original spot so that it is clear of overhanging trees.
During Eco Council meetings in October we have been researching pond design and planting. Students in pairs, presented their design ideas and Basil Dredge, the other of our Senior Prefect Eco Council leaders, made careful notes of the best elements of each design after discussion with the whole group. Basil will now combine the best of each idea to form one pond design and this will then be presented back to the group for feedback – this project will be truly inclusive and a credit to all involved. In designing the pond, students have considered the following:
• Shallow sloping sides to allow easy access for smaller creatures
• Different depths for both plants and animals – we do not intend to keep fish and therefore do not need a large deep area.
• They have researched pond plants that will thrive well and are more native to Hertfordshire
• How will we use the pond? Students have considered access – pathways around the pond for viewing/pond dipping for samples etc.
Once we have the final design, we will arrange a ‘digging day’, Eco Council members are signing up fast to join in with the digging of the pond! A member of the Wilder Schools Project will join us to help advise on the final construction of the pond for which we are very grateful.
We will also be arranging a cake sale to raise money to buy a water butt so that we can collect rainwater to fill the pond when it has been created. It is essential that we use rainwater, not tap water to fill the pond in order for wildlife to flourish in the pond.

School Council
Our newly formed School Council met for the first time in October having been elected in September. The Council will meet once a month going forward. It was lovely to meet with such an engaged group from Years 7 – 11. Mr Moane and Mrs Avery were present at the meeting to hear the views of our students. Once we had laid the ground rules – we don’t have a treasure chest of money to buy anything and everything our students may desire – the meeting was constructive, interesting and effective in helping us to work together with our students to improve the student experience at school. A key topic up for discussion was the Reward trip destinations for this year. The feedback from students was that the Escape rooms in St Albans are always well-received and this trip is affordable. Other suggestions were also made regarding trips and this information has been passed on to Mr Toley, our Student Engagement Lead.
Students also discussed the Clubs and Societies on offer and were encouraged to talk to staff about setting up their own clubs if they have a personal interest that is not currently covered but which they feel would be of interest to other students.
Students also expressed an interest in ‘Civic Duty’ and being more involved in our local community which is commendable and something we will explore going forward.

SLT

Trips, Visits and Workshops

Theology Conference

On Friday 17th October, a group of budding year 12 philosophers journeyed to Townsend for an organised Q and A session with a small group of Christian apologeticians. A range of views were shared and questions asked such as "If God is so powerful, is He able to sin?" and "Should people have a right to end their own lives?" These are the sorts of questions we get a chance to debate in RE GCSE, as well as in greater detail in our A Level Religious Studies, which combines Philosophy, Ethics and Theology into one subject; Verulam philosophy encourages critical thinking and nourishes the quest to discover what 'Truth' really is (if it even exists!)

Mr Z Curcic

Thorpe Park

On Friday 17th October, Churchill set off to Thorpe Park for a very generous reward trip from the PTA. 8C won the trip for being the form group that donated the most to the PTA and had a fantastic trip!
The coach picked us up straight after registration and we were on our way. Thankfully there was no traffic and we were there nice and early, ready to enjoy the day. We were split into small groups and roughly split ourselves into groups with those who love the big rollercoasters and those who love water rides and off we went - going on rides, eating treats, and having all the fun. The teachers did think we would be exhausted on the way home and nice and quiet but no such luck for them as we were all so excited and did not stop talking about all the fun we had - the whole way home!!
"The weather was good all day and so we managed to get on plenty of rides. We would like to thank the PTA for paying for such an amazing trip." Alex Hill, Form Rep, 8C

Mrs N Long

Events

Money Matters

Forty Four students in Year's 10 and 12 have signed up and registered for the Young Enterprise's 'My Money Matters' online course which is a great way for young people to learn more about money and become financially literate. ‘My Money Matters’ gives students access to an easy to understand, engaging and relevant digital course covering everything they need to know about the importance of money. This course has been designed to develop the vital skills young people need to earn and look after their money and will enable them to explore their attitudes to money as well as gain key financial skills to help them in the real world. Following the course, students will be well prepared to make financial decisions both now and in the future.

The course takes approximately six hours in total to finish and can be completed both in school during a dedicated weekly lunchtime club on a Tuesday, as well as at home and at a pace that is suited to each individual student. ‘My Money Matters’ has been awarded with the financial education quality mark accreditation which is supported by the Money and Pensions service and students will receive a certificate on completion of the course. The best of luck to all students who are taking part in the course and there will be an opportunity later on in the academic year for other groups of students to participate

Mr T Engel

my money matters full flyer.pdf

Celebrating Reading and Achievement

Black History Month
This October, the library celebrated Black History Month with a Reading Challenge and an Author Hunt. Students used their detective skills to follow clues around the library, searching for posters of authors of Black origin and deciphering hidden words within the texts.
Congratulations to everyone who discovered the final words: “Pride” and “Power”, reflecting this year’s Black History Month theme: Standing Firm in Power and Pride.

Halloween Reading Challenge
Five Nights at Freddy’s made a spooky return for our Halloween-themed reading challenge! A big well done to everyone who completed five books — and an extra congratulations to those who read ten books and won a Five Nights at Freddy’s prize!

Book Fair Success
Our autumn Scholastic Book Fair was a great success, helping Verulam earn nearly £100 worth of free books to add exciting new titles to our library. Thank you to all the students and parents who supported the event!

Reading Challenges Leaderboard
This month’s leaderboard is neck and neck! Churchill and Brampton are currently tied for first place, with Hamilton close behind in second.

Coming Up Next Month
Keep an eye on what’s happening in the library! November will feature special activities for Remembrance Day, Non-Fiction November, and Movember with plenty of ways to get involved, learn, and be rewarded.

Miss G Pettitt

World Mental Health Day 2025 at Verulam School

On Friday 10th October, Verulam School marked World Mental Health Day with a comprehensive program across all year groups. This year’s global theme was ‘access to mental health services during catastrophes and emergencies,’ which we focused on by addressing personal ‘emergencies’ for our young people, such as academic pressure or friendship issues.

World Mental Health Day 2025 Sessions

Year 7 Assembly: Students attended an assembly that introduced self-awareness and emotional understanding, referencing Inside Out 2 to discuss emotions like Anxiety and Sadness. The assembly was followed by a Form Time session using discussion prompts to encourage peer support and to clearly reinforce the message that help is available, ensuring students know exactly where and how to access it.

Years 8–13 Form Time Presentation: Students explored why mental health support is vital, were reminded that everyone deserves good mental health, and learned what can count as personal catastrophes and emergencies through a pre-recorded presentation during Form Time.

All students learned practical coping strategies, including the grounding technique of Box Breathing and advice on digital wellbeing, such as managing ‘Doomscrolling’ by limiting phone use and turning off non-essential notifications.

The central message was consistently reinforced: Asking for help shows strength, not weakness.

Support and Community Engagement

The dedicated Form Time follow-up encouraged open discussion and clearly signposted students to support services. These services include:

In-School Support: Mentoring, the School Counsellor, the Mental Health Support Team (MHST), and Services for Young People (SfYP).

Pathways to Help: Students were reminded of the ‘Five Fingers of Faith’ – having five trusted adults they can always go to, who the Safeguarding Team is, and the SHARP System for safe, anonymous reporting of concerns.

We were pleased by the attendance at our Coffee Morning Drop-In on Thursday, 16th October, where parents met key staff from the MHST and SfYP to discuss our support systems.

Here are some key wellbeing dates coming up in school, keep an eye out for more information soon:

Anti-Bullying Week 2025: November 10–14. Our Top Team will be involved in encouraging Odd Sock Day on Monday, November 10th.
Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week 2026: February 9–15, 2026.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2026: May 11–17, 2026.

We remain committed to providing a supportive environment and ensuring every student knows: Your feelings are valid, it’s okay not to be okay, and help is always available.

Mr M Holding

verulam where to get help links.pdf

Initial Teacher Training Programme

Verulam school is proud to be a placement school for Initial Teacher Training at Alban TSH who offer flexible, highly-personalised, school-based routes into teacher training. This includes: tuition fee paying, assessment only and Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship for a wide range of secondary courses as well as primary (5-11 and 3-7). There is also the opportunity to gain PGCE status in addition to QTS. Alban TSH is an experienced provider of teacher training and has established partnerships with many outstanding schools in the region. Get in touch with our team teaching@albantsh.co.uk to find out more.

Mrs P Avery

September 2025

Message from the Headteacher

I wanted to firstly congratulate the boys and young men and women of Verulam on how well they have started the year. They have either joined us for the first time and settled well or have returned to school after the summer break with renewed purpose and energy.

We appreciate your support with our efforts to tighten systems and expectations. The 'Ebasics' sanction is designed to quickly improve routines and habits, from punctuality and appearance to homework completion and equipment. Staff have commented that this has lifted standards and being prepared to learn is the first step in a successful school day.

The move to a single lunchtime has generally gone well. We had some issues with payment systems and service for the first couple of weeks, but the systems problems are mostly resolved and the canteen has a new set of sixth form recruits on the tills. Queues are reduced with most students being served within the first 20 minutes of the lunch break. The change has allowed us to offer sports and a range of lunchtime clubs that we encourage your child to enjoy: https://verulamschool.co.uk/News/Autumn-Term-Clubs/

We are also making our way through Parent Information Evenings with years 10-13 complete so far and the remaining year groups happening over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully this gives you a better insight into key dates and what is being learned in each year - the presentations and forthcoming dates and for consultations with subject teachers can be found here: https://verulamschool.co.uk/Learning/Parents-Information-Evenings/

The wider life of the school has roared back with everything from fantastic wins in sports fixtures to Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, visits to college and careers fairs, our fascinating Engaging Minds programme in the sixth form and the upcoming culture day on the 9th October to celebrate our diverse cultural backgrounds. Please make a donation that will go to the Herts Young Homeless charity. Please also support our massive fundraising fireworks event on Friday 24th October at Sandpit Lane. all tickets and details can be found here.

Our Open Evening was a big success with over 1,000 people from 330 families visiting. Thank you to the students who were tour guides or subject demonstrators. Feedback from prospective parents was warm, saying how impressed they were and how helpful and proud our students were of their school.

We need that to translate through into increased numbers, as government funding is tied directly to this and we face challenging financial headwinds. The SchoolCuts campaign gives an estimate of the impact of reduced central government funding on Verulam, but our bigger issue is in the reduction in numbers as larger year groups are succeeded by smaller ones. If you are happy about the school, please promote it with prospective parents! If you are not happy, please let us know and we will always listen to try to improve, within the constraints that we have.

Fergal Moane, Headteacher

Curriculum News

News from the Computing Department

Congratulations to the following:
Congratulations to the following Year 8 students for gaining an award in their Cyber Explorers course last year. Well done for the effort you put in to get the required number of points for the award! This is a government initiative and is accredited by the SCQF. Maybe these will be the names working for GCHQ and protecting the UK in future years?
Henry Madders, Josh Smith, Toby Shepherd, Will Newcombe, Justin Chau, Naoki Minall and Ari Sharma

National Cipher Challenge
We have started enrolment for our first competition this year. Student will face a 10-week challenge of trying to breaking a series of codes starting on the 9th October 2025. It is great to see students from Year 7 to Year 13 already signed up to take on this challenge! Adults can have a go as well – you just won’t be eligible for any prizes. https://www.cipherchallenge.org

Mr P Schalker

Enrichment

Personal Development

Student personal development is important to us at Verulam. With this in mind, we provide a range of different ways for our students to develop their communication skills, confidence and leadership skills. This month I have added a form to the Year group Google Classroom for all students in Years 7 – 11 where they can sign up to become part of our Eco Council and get involved in rejuvenating the Verulam environment. Our first step this year will be meeting with representatives from the Re-wilding Project in October to discuss ways to ‘re-wild’ parts of our site and create a pond in a safe area. Our Sixth Form Prefects, Basil and Harry will be leading this project. More on this as our projects develop.

The other exciting event happening at the moment is the imminent School Council elections. This week tutors have been talking to their forms putting themselves forward for the vote. Next week we will hold student elections to determine who will become representatives on the School Council for the year. Each form can put forward up to 5 students. If there are more than five students wishing to be put forward, an internal form vote will take place to decide on the five going forward to the school election next week. Good luck to all those willing to step up and have a go at getting elected!
Mrs Avery

Sporting Update

Sports Update

The term has started with fantastic participation in clubs, a busy schedule of fixtures, and the exciting launch of our first-ever Sports Academy and Sports Academy newsletter.

Our first success of the year came in the Year 7 Mob Race, where the boys finished second overall. Since then, we’ve celebrated victories in rugby, football, basketball, and cross-country. Our U16 badminton squad also made history by competing in their first-ever National Cup fixture.

Paid clubs such as badminton and fencing, delivered by external academies, have seen excellent numbers — contact details are attached for anyone wishing to sign up. Golf lessons have also continued this term, and we’re looking forward to Gaelic football fixtures and coaching later this term. Some of our Year 9 Rugby players have also started their Rugby Leaders Course.
Fencing Contact details: paul@teampdfa.com
Badminton Contact details: mail@rayappanbadmintonacademy.com

Mr L Errington

Events

Library Highlights

We had an astounding participation in our reading initiatives over the summer, including the Summer Reading Challenge, Summer Extreme Reading Challenge and the Sparx Reader Summer Challenge.
Well done to everyone that took part and received a certificate and an LoR.
A particular commendation goes to the winners of the Extreme Reading Challenge, who captured imaginative and inspiring photographs of themselves reading in unusual and memorable locations: Most Creative- Elias R. (year 7), Greatest Height- Isaac B. (year 9), Furthest Around the Globe- Isaac A. (year 7), Most Historic- Dill D. (year 9), Most Venturesome- Rex O. (year 7), Most Picturesque- William S. (year 7), Most Publicly Daring- Eddie B. (year 7), and our Extreme Winner- Bradley S. (year 7). Well done!

This month, the library showcased our new book arrivals, with 80% of these titles carefully handpicked by our Reading Council.
We also spotlighted our permanent ‘Read Your Way Through' challenges to inspire readers to explore a variety of books throughout the year.

For September, the ‘Reading Challenges Leaderboard’ sees Brampton House securing second place, with Jennings following close behind in third.
Congratulations to Churchill House for topping the leaderboard this month — a fantastic achievement!