School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 6/03/2020Books, Books, Books
I was saddened to read an article in the Guardian newspaper last weekend which relayed the shocking statistic that a recent survey found that, in 2019, just 26% of under 18s spent some time each day reading. This is the lowest daily level recorded since the charity concerned first surveyed children’s reading habits in 2005. The research also found that fewer children enjoy reading, and that this declined with age: nearly twice as many 5 to 8 year olds as 14 to 16 year olds said they took pleasure from reading. Overall, just 53% of children said they enjoyed reading “very much” or “quite a lot” – the lowest level since 2013.
The research is so worrying because all educators and, I believe, the vast majority of parents know the value of reading for young children. Reading underpins absolutely everything in primary education: it teaches engagement, sparks curiosity, encourages focus and concentration, fires up the imagination and is the medium through which comprehension skills such as inference and extrapolation are taught and developed. By far the most important thing, educationally, that any parent can do with their young child is to model and inspire a love of books and reading, by reading widely themselves and spending time each day reading to and then with their child.
No child is too young for the joy of reading - even new-born babies enjoy the sound of a parent’s voice and the wonder and sense of discovery as that voice conveys different emotions: joy, excitement or suspense. Spending precious time with your child every day to share books is time extremely well spent. As your child grows older, you can mix it up, with you reading some parts of the book and them joining in. Children will memorise those children’s picture books that are regularly read to them and will enjoy, even before they can read themselves, telling the story as if they are reading. As they learn to associate the words on the page with the words they are hearing/saying, they are learning to read almost magically! Of course, we teach children to read at school using tried and tested methods, as well as the latest developments in pedagogical thinking, but it is at home that a love of reading can be inspired and embedded.
I am proud that, at St. Helen’s College, we inspire readers in so many ways: our teaching staff take great care to ensure that reading is regular, purposeful and enjoyable for the children; our well-stocked libraries offer a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books, and children visit the school library and begin choosing books right from Nursery. Our dedicated librarians at Upper School run reading challenges, employ pupil librarians, create interesting and inspiring displays, refresh stock constantly and with great awareness of what will be of value to children, and are always ready with a recommendation. Guided reading in English lessons throughout the school and extra reading clubs add to the children’s positive and meaningful reading experiences, as do special themed days like the wonderful World Book Day we enjoyed this week.
We live in an ever-changing world, and other media are having their moment. Films, online content including short videos and social media memes are rife and do, of course, have some value. But there is absolutely no substitution for reading books in terms of setting your child up for success both inside and outside of school. Through books, children can discover all of life. They can ‘visit’ and gain understanding of other cultures; they can explore the emotions of themselves and others; they can imagine a world of colour and interest, actively developing their creativity in ways that they simply cannot by sitting passively in front of a screen.
So please, I urge you, support your child in their reading. We ask that parents throughout the school read with their children every single day and that you question your child to make sure that they have understood what you or they have read. Depending on their age, you might ask them to retell the story, ask them to think of an alternative ending, or ask them what the characters are feeling and why. You could ask them to find the words that the author has used that prove that their answers are correct. Children who are questioned in this way grow used to thinking carefully about what they are reading, which ensures excellent comprehension.
I do hope that World Book Day has inspired your children to want to read more, and I hope that parents will feel inspired too. If you can make time for this most important of activities, your child will thrive and you will hopefully experience some real joy each day too! I am sure that, at St. Helen’s College, the number of children who would say they enjoy reading is well over 53% - but we will not, and should not, rest until we are absolutely confident that it is 100%!
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 28/02/2020Hygiene
With Coronavirus dominating the news, we have of course been reviewing the risks to our school community and ensuring that we all have possible measures in place to promote and safeguard the welfare of our pupils, parents and staff.
This week, children have been reminded in assemblies and/or class time about the importance of good hygiene and about how they can help themselves by adopting good hygiene habits for life. It is important that these habits are reinforced consistently at home and at school, so I would like to share with you the areas on which we focus and ask parents and other carers to convey these messages at home too.
Hand Washing
By far the most important hygiene measure is proper hand washing. Children are asked to wash their hands in the mornings, after using the toilet, before and after eating, and at the end of the school day. It may be appropriate for them to wash their hands at other times too.
The key message here is to wash hands properly. Children are often in a rush to get to the next exciting thing – particularly food! – and do need reminders and encouragement to wash their hands thoroughly, using the hand soap provided. Pupils have been shown this short ‘Germ Smart’ handwashing video which explains exactly what they should do when washing their hands. Please do watch this and ensure that your children follow these procedures when hand washing or using hand sanitising gel.
‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’
We use the mantra ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ to teach children how to sneeze or blow noses into tissues and then throw those tissues away promptly, followed by a thorough hand wash to kill any germs. This short video is a useful reminder of how to catch, bin and kill germs that could be transmitted through sneezing or touching your face and then touching other surfaces.
Thank you for your support in continuing to share these resources with your children. Perhaps the most important thing is that all adults lead by example, modelling good hygiene practices whenever you can so that your children see good hygiene as a normal, essential part of life. Children ‘learn what they live’ and will, almost unknowingly, adopt the behaviours they witness regularly. So every time you wash your hands properly or ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’, you are doing something good not just for yourself but for your children too!
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 14/02/2020Celebrating Learning
Over the past couple of weeks around the school there has been a constant celebration of pupils' learning. Traditionally this may have taken the form of high marks in exams, full marks in tests, pressure and public accountability for achieving highly but at St. Helen’s College the teachers and pupils have taken a more creative slant to celebrating success!
As you are aware, we like to challenge our children in all that they do - we all need to feel the heat in our learning journey - feel the challenge, experience what it feels to be out of our comfort zone. Our pupils thrive on this and astonish us with their creativity in being able to demonstrate their tenacity and their ability to demonstrate what they have learnt in their own unique way.
In Science lessons I have witnessed pupils writing poetry, performing raps, composing and singing songs and creating the most incredible models. In all these forms of learning outcomes the pupils have taken risks in their learning. They have been individual; they have not followed the crowd; they have used their knowledge of subject matter to challenge themselves to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of concepts taught to them.
It is such a joy to engage with the children as they describe to me what they have been learning about. Taha (Year 6) was particularly animated last week as he exclaimed, ‘It was disgusting Mrs. Drummond - my hands were covered in blood but it was amazing...I could see the inside of the heart and lungs, all the tubes and other parts - it was great!”
I must add that it is a credit to all the pupils, the parents (for giving their permission) and to Ms Gilham (and her butcher) that we are able to extend the children's learning at such a young age to give them first hand experience of being able to dissect a sheep's heart and lungs to see for themselves the circulatory system which they have been studying.
A recent article in the NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education) journal cited an article written by York St John titled ‘Perfectionism in more able learners; what do we know and what next?” I quote an extract below.
“Recent research suggests that perfectionism has become a hidden epidemic among students over the last 30 years, with students now more perfectionistic than ever before. In addition, this complex characteristic has been found to explain a wide range of outcomes among students. On one hand, some aspects of being perfectionistic are related to better academic performance. But, on the other hand, other aspects of perfectionism have been found to be significant sources of psychological distress for students, including burnout and depression.”
I am writing this blog on the eve of our Wellbeing focus day and it is with a sense of pride that I feel confident that our pupils at St. Helen’s College are given the correct classroom climate where there is healthy challenge and opportunity to revel in their success without the damage which can often be done where a culture of ‘perfectionism’ can exists.
Words that spring to mind every day when I listen and breathe in the culture of St Helen’s College are:
collaboration mindset creativity excellence challenge resilience wellbeing
We have children of all abilities at St. Helens’ College and pride ourselves that we endorse a ‘Challenge for all' attitude to learning - all children are encouraged to do their best by parents and staff but it is by ensuring that our expectations and classroom culture are appropriate, that we do not allow the children to fixate on mistakes and errors. FAIL - that 'first attempt in learning' is so important. We celebrate success and effort by all.
I am sure your children will come home on Friday evening for the half term break revelling in the events of our Wellbeing focus day - but that I will keep for a future blog!
Have a super half term break and look after your wellbeing!
I leave you with one example of learning from Catherine in Year 6!
Healthy Bodies Poem
Ms Gilham, a science teacher, and amazing too,
Taught us about living healthily to help beat the blues
She’s told us about striving to eat a varied diet,
To give us minerals and energy, you cannot deny it!
But this is because it’s important to eat,
Our 7 food groups: fibre, protein, vitamins,
fats, water and carbohydrates (including wheat!)
We’ve learnt about Dr Livingstone who
Found out about scurvy to help beat the flu,
The sailors, who were suffering from scurvy onboard,
Were found to lack vitamins but were soon restored,
By eating 2 oranges and a lemon a day,
They just needed some Vitamin C, hip, hip, hooray!
But we know about alcohol, smoking, medicine and drugs
We know they can cause harm, even a stomach bug,
Though not all are damaging, there are one’s that help you,
Like penicillin, Nurofen and many more too!
Cocaine and nicotine are highly addictive,
They can give you heart problems, that’s why they’re constrictive.
Alcohol is permitted in small doses
But drinking too much is bad as it poses
Threats to your physical and mental state,
That can sometimes, if you’re not careful, lead to your fate!
Remember, please, to try not to smoke,
It causes so many problems and can lead to a stroke,
Turns your lungs a sooty black hue,
And because I breathe the toxic air, it harms me and you!
Taking blood from to the heart to the cells and back,
Dealing with all things vascular and cardiac.
Next up, we’ll talk about the arteries,
They take blood from the heart where its gotta be,
The biggest artery, the main transporter,
Right next to the heart,
It’s called the aorta.
Posted on: 31/01/2020Mindfulness and Me
This week I am handing the Head’s blog over to a guest blog from Mr. Shah who has two daughters at St. Helen's College.
Last week I attended a ‘Reconnection Day’ in London with 50 other mindfulness teachers to reflect on how we were taking mindfulness into schools around the UK and overseas. It was only when we separated into smaller focus groups that I became fully aware of how much we do as a school, giving our children the opportunities to embrace just being; taking some time to appreciate our environment and community and bringing their attention to their breath.
I cannot take any credit for St. Helen’s College being a frontrunner in the field of mindfulness as it was Mr. and Mrs. Crehan who were so forward-thinking and brought the paws b and .b training to the school. Mrs. Crehan also starts our young Ducklings off with their mindfulness journey with her weekly visits.
Year 6 are currently in their 4th week of the .b programme and Year 4 will soon embark upon their Paws b course. But it is our whole community who engage with ‘mindful moments’ as they choose ‘strong silence’ in assemblies and are given time to be in their bubble and appreciate the silence, conducting simple mindful practices at ease. Our Mindful Ambassadors meet weekly and the commitment to mindfulness is admirable but they also recognise the benefits it has brought to them.
For those of you who may wish to find out more about mindfulness and would like to engage in a programme of mindfulness, the MISP (Mindfulness in Schools Project) are launching their next online course .begin: https://mindfulnessinschools.org/course/begin-5mar2020/.
At our Friday recital last week, Mrs. Shah delighted me as she told me how their family had embraced mindfulness - I shall allow Mr. Shah to tell the story!
My Mind and Me
As a family we are surrounded by friends and family who actively practise meditation. This has rubbed off on the children and both our girls are quite enthused by the idea and are quite eager to practise and promote mindfulness at any given opportunity.
In my opinion, it will still take me a lot of practice to bring my mind to a meditative state in any session, so the idea of mindfulness which I thought would give my mind the liberty to sense and feel the immediate environment was right up my street.
I’ll share my experience of one such mindfulness session conducted by my 10 year old daughter.
We agreed last week that we would have our dinner on time on Tuesday, after which, Krisha would lead a session on mindfulness.
Come 8.00 p.m., we had tidied up after dinner and gathered in the lounge where we were allocated a chair, which is ideal as opposed to on the couch. Krisha explained why we had gathered and then put on a soothing piece of music.
Feet flat on the floor and palms on the thighs is what we were advised to be the most effective position. We were then led through what she described as a pacifying journey.
Mindfulness of one’s five senses
Gently, Krisha led us through being aware of the immediate environment by using each of our senses. Noticing – really noticing – the sensation in a given moment, brought about by the sights, sounds and smells that ordinarily slip by without reaching our conscious awareness. We tuned into the physical sensations, from the gentle hum of the light bulbs over us to the way the body rested on the chair.
Breathing
We were introduced to a variety of breathing techniques. The first being ‘Flower-Breathing’. This technique is applied by mimicking the opening and closing of a sepal. Breathing in as the sepal opens, and breathing out as it closes. The other technique was that of tracing the index finger of the right hand over the fingers of the left hand. Breathing in as we trace the index finger going up the finger, and breathing out going down the finger. Only later did I realise that this not only made me feel aware of my external (flower) and personal (hand) environments, but also the harmony between the two.
Mindfulness of one’s thoughts and feelings
Being mindful of the environment soon transitioned to the awareness of thoughts and emotions. The relaxing background music helped me to recognise that fleeting thoughts and emotions could actually be harnessed, and as such don’t define either me or the way I behave or react. I felt a transition from a mind racing with a menagerie of emotions and feelings to that of a pretty transient state of awareness, bordering on deep relaxation to the point of drifting into sleep. This is how my meditation session almost always ends up, to be woken up by a sharp nudge on my arm.
Throughout the session, not once did I realise that our 10 year old was conducting the session, such was the confidence and maturity with which she created the state of tranquillity and ambience. This state could easily have been plucked from our lounge and planted in an auditorium full of people. St. Helens College has been subtly instilling the idea of mindfulness into the children who, in turn, have been spreading the message outside. For this I am thankful because I was able to have a meaningful session of meditation, albeit mindfulness, after such a long time.
Mr. Shah
Posted on: 24/01/2020Best Ambassadors
Over the past few weeks we have had many prospective parents visiting the school and on every tour we are always so proud of our current pupils. They truly are the best ambassadors of the school and it would, in fact, be easy for the children to conduct every tour themselves! In classrooms, corridors and around the school our pupils greet visitors with a friendly smile, from Ducklings all the way through to Year 6, and many of them will stop to chat - only this week our Head Girl welcomed a family and had a long conversation in Chinese, which I was reassured was all complimentary!
Upon entering classrooms, the children are eager to share what they have been learning, reading examples of their work, explaining the importance of place value, highlighting the features of persuasive writing (with FATHORSE - facts, alliteration, triples, humour, opinion, rhetorical questions, similes, emotive language or exaggeration) or demonstrating their coding ability. The captured moments of learning on a school tour are endless and it is no wonder that our prospective parents are often left speechless! This week we found it hard to leave the 2H classroom, as child after child wanted to share something special with our visitors! Their science investigation was clearly a highlight of their day.
I only wish that our current parents could see for themselves how their children engage with new adults they meet with such ease and confidence, showing such pride in talking about school work and other achievements.
I visit many schools throughout the year in my role as Head, including feeder senior schools and other Prep schools within our IAPS group. I also visit schools in my role as an ISI inspector and although I am clearly biased about St. Helen’s College, we really do stand out from the crowd in terms of pupils' personal development and engagement with their learning in all areas.
Mr. Crehan spent time in school on Tuesday and managed to visit every class in the Lower School and Upper School. He too was delighted with what is going on around the school and he revelled in being back in class with the children!
I am sure that many of you remember your first tour of the school when you visited as prospective parents. I may have shown you around, or you may have been toured by Mr. or Mrs. Crehan, Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Stark. I am sure that you recall what left a lasting imprint on that tour - and I suspect that, for most if not all of you, it included the children! I would love to hear from any parent who remembers something specific about meeting pupils on their tour...please do feel free to share your memories with me around school or by email.
Finally, please do congratulate your children on their marvellous ability and willingness to interact with visitors with confidence, honesty and joy - we are so proud of them each and every day!
Have a great weekend.
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 17/01/2020Diversity
Last Saturday, I attended the annual Diverse Leaders Conference, which happened to be hosted by Upton Grammar School in Slough.
The event is in its third year and is organised by a close friend of mine, Hannah Wilson, who is currently Head of Secondary School Teacher Training at the University of Buckingham. It brings together leaders and educators from all areas and phases of education who are passionate about supporting professionals and pupils within the education system who are underrepresented but with particular reference to educational leadership in our schools.
There was representation from the BAMEedNetwork (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Educators), the LGBT network, Disabled leaders, WomenED (women in education) and the HeforShe movement.
The opening keynote speaker, Diana Osagie, who stands at 6ft 2, inspired the delegates by asking us this question: ‘Are you fulfilling the expectations of your life?’ Can I? Will I? Am I? Her call to arms for us to fulfil expectations in life was a powerful reminder to find and serve our purpose.
Several leaders that day reflected on the struggles they have had in their careers and on the resilience and courage that it took, for many reasons, to climb the ladder and be recognised for their contributions. Sadly there were devastating stories of leaders who had been pushed out of their schools: James Pope, who last year featured on the BBC2 documentary ‘School,' spoke eloquently but emotionally about his experiences and how he now supports other Heads who may find themselves in this very vulnerable and stressful situation (I have linked the moment in the documentary where James had to tell his staff he was leaving).
Ofsted (the regulatory body which inspects maintained schools) can make or break a dedicated Head’s career and I am somewhat grateful that as an ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate) inspector, the approach that the Independent Schools Inspectorate takes is to celebrate the achievements and outcomes of schools and support them in areas where improvement may be required - not to push dedicated Heads from their schools.
One inspirational Head, Jo Lawrence, whom I have known on social media for several years, shared her courageous journey through being diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer just 18 months into her Headship and how she coped with handing over the reins to an interim Head but keeping in touch with her staff and school community throughout her treatment (I have linked Jo’s blog prior to her cancer diagnosis). She stood proud on Saturday, although still suffering from severe bone pain, and with a fantastic new look cropped hair do. It was my first time actually meeting Jo in person despite our many communications on social media - the warm embrace we gave each other spoke volumes and I only hope that not many of us have to endure what she has been going through.
Mark Pritchard, the Head of Upton Grammar, reflected on how we need schools to be diverse; complex problems needs people who think differently and collective intelligence is determined by our cognitive diversity. He reminded us of the detriment of homophily amongst leadership teams and the HIPPO style of leadership (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion!). Thankfully over my years in education I have only experienced this type of leadership on two occasions and stayed strong to my moral compass and moved to pastures new where colliding perspectives and risk taking was welcomed and staff and leaders were developed and nurtured.
I could continue sharing my reflections of the many other inspiring leaders I heard from on Saturday but I will end with Karen Giles, who has been Headteacher of a co-educational primary school in Brent for 16 years. Karen spoke about the learning behaviours of boys versus girls in her school and how she has worked with her staff to ensure that they are inspiring girls to become strong, confident leaders for the future - they tackle stereotypes and support equality of education. Karen has 960 children in her four form entry school, pupils are from the immediate local area and the school is incredibly diverse in culture, faith and languages.
Karen highlighted the charity and the film ‘Girl Rising’ and shared the ‘Nepal Chapter’ with us. I urge you all to take the time to watch (12 minutes) - this is a simple reminder of how far equality of education for girls has come, but also of how much there still is to do in this area.
As we left the conference, we were asked to make a pledge to ourselves as we return to our own schools on Monday. The first couple of weeks back at school have been incredibly positive and Mr. McLaughlin has been handed the baton by Mrs. Stark and has stepped up to his new leadership role as Deputy Head with commitment, confidence and energy. With a new Deputy Head in place I am excited for the future - I pledge to continue giving my best to lead St. Helen’s College with the staff team, the pupils and parents to give the children the best possible education and to prepare them for life in the 21st century (whatever this future will look like). I will work my hardest with the amazing staff at St. Helen’s College to fulfil the expectations of the parent body, Principals and Governing Body and will be honest, resilient and courageous but will lead with grace, love and compassion.
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 10/01/2020Start with Heart
Happy New Year to all of our St. Helen’s College families.
We have had a very successful start to the new term and I thought that it would interesting for parents and pupils to hear about what the staff did during our two training days on Monday and Tuesday this week.
At the first staff training day of 2020 I showed staff the image below, replacing the word ‘teacher’ with ‘staff’:
In every work place I am sure that people wear many hats and this is particularly the case in schools, where staff members wear multiple hats throughout the day and often at the same time! Working in a school means spending your days in the most rewarding, stimulating and busy environment and after 30 years as an educator I cannot even imagine doing anything else! However, it is so important that, regardless of the job we do in society, we are kind to ourselves. We must notice how we are feeling and look after ourselves.
I then shared this short video with everyone, which I urge you to find time to watch.
Kindness has many benefits, including increased happiness and a healthy heart. It slows down the ageing process and improves relationships and connections, which indirectly boosts your health.
It is our job to ensure that your children are safe and happy at school and of course learning each and every day. To keep them safe at school we need to keep up to date with regulatory training, so we then had our annual asthma and anaphylaxis training from Rebecca, a member of the Hillingdon Asthma team. First aid training was also on the agenda and 34 members of staff completed Paediatric First Aid training - the trainers made this very serious training fun and I am sure that children would have loved to have seen Mr. Dyson putting me into the recovery position as an unconscious breathing casualty or critiquing my bandaging of Mr. Lewis’s hand following the amputation of two fingers!
Having the children back on Wednesday was a breath of fresh air and although I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday I most certainly welcomed having routine back and the joy of the children around us again.
It is not only the staff who have been 'upskilling' themselves in first aid this week, as our children from Reception to Year 6 have commenced the ‘Heartstart’ programme. For many years Miss Walker has arranged for all of the children to take part in this most valuable course; the children’s knowledge and skills of how to react in an emergency are built upon year on year. Some of the skills which the children learn over their time with us are:
What to do in an emergency situation
Knowing how to make a 999 call
Putting someone in the recovery position
Dealing with serious bleeds
Recognising signs of heart attack and stroke
Administering CPR
How to utilise an automated external defibrillator (AED)
Yesterday, the Year 6 pupils went through exactly the same training as we did as they used the Annie dolls to practise their CPR technique.
At lunch on Tuesday we were discussing the fact that the children learn these life skills but with the hope that they may never have to use them in a real life situation. However, one member of staff whose children both attended St. Helen’s College still recalls the day when her daughter had a seizure at home and it was her 5 year old son (now a teenager) who took control and told his dad what to do! It was a very helpful, calm voice of reason from a child who recalled his ‘Heartstart’ training skills.
Do speak to your children over the next couple of weeks as they learn these life skills from Mrs. Hunt, Miss Ward, Miss Walker and Mrs. Wilcock. I am sure that you will be so impressed by what they know and can share with you!
So, as we start the new term, we do start with ‘Heart’.
Here’s to a super 2020 for us all at St. Helen’s College!
Mrs. Drummond
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