School News and Head's Blog

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Posted on: 7/01/2022

Weekly News - Friday 7th January 2022

ISI Inspection Report We hope that all parents have now had an opportunity to read the report from the ISI Educational Quality inspection which took place towards the end of last term. We are sure that, in doing so, you share our pride in the pupils, staff and parents who make St. Helen's College such an amazing community. We were delighted that the inspectors found so much evidence of the superb work and excellent pupil progress at St. Helen's College, and were equally delighted that they were able to include so many examples in the final inspection report. The report is available on the website here and has also been featured by IAPS, ISC and Attain magazine. We will be producing a printed booklet containing the inspection results and will send one home to each family when this is ready. If you have a local business or anywhere else to share more booklets with the community and would like some more copies, please just let us know by contacting the school office and we will be pleased to provide more. Internet Safety Day Information Next Tuesday, 11th January, will be an Internet Safety Day here at St. Helen's College. We will be joined at school once again by Paul Hay from PCLS Training. All classes from Reception to Year 6 will have specific lessons/workshops on Internet Safety, staff will receive a twilight training session and there will be an evening Zoom session for parents too. Information about this has been emailed directly to parents and is copied below. Keeping your Child Safe Online Tuesday 11th January 2022 7.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m. Our children live in the Internet Age. They love to use technology and play the latest games. However, it is not always easy for parents and carers to understand what they are doing and how we can help to do the right things to keep them out of danger. It is important that parents are also involved so they are able to help their children when they are at home. We would like to invite you to an online talk, which will be delivered by Paul Hay, a specialist in internet safety. Paul will be spending the school day with the children and staff and will then present to parents in the evening. He will tell you : How young people use the Internet. Show how children use programs such as Moshi Monsters, Minecraft, Roblox, Instagram, SnapChat and Tik Tok. Describe how information young people post can be misused by people who are not their friends.  Explain what you, as parents, can do to help keep them safe.   Above all it will give you as parents and carers the confidence to help your child get the most benefit and enjoyment from the internet while keeping safe.  Topics will be discussed in language we as parents understand. No technical or computer knowledge is required or expected.  To attend this session, please join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85069890558?pwd=WUc1d0p5a1NOQi9KUGk5SGk1Tm15dz09 Meeting ID: 850 6989 0558         Passcode: 813801 We look forward to you joining us. You may join on the night but it would be useful if you could complete this short form if you intend to attend. Ducklings/Nursery/Reception Parents' Evenings Parents' evenings will take place for Ducklings, Nursery and Reception on: Thursday 27th January 2022 (5.00 - 8.00 p.m.) - remote. Tuesday 1st February 2022 (4.00 - 7.00 p.m.) - in school. To book your appointment(s), please use the following link: https://sthelens.schoolcloud.co.uk/  Bookings will go live from 6.30 p.m. on Friday 14th January 2022. For parents who chose to have a remote meeting last time, it would be lovely to see you face-to-face in school this time if you can make it. Full class names should be used to access the system: Ducklings Kindergarten, Robins Nursery, Wrens Nursery, Owls, Kingfishers. Year 5 Transfer Meetings Mrs. Drummond will be holding individual meetings with Year 5 parents next week to discuss senior school transfer. If you have a child in Year 5 and have not yet booked an appointment with Mrs. Drummond, you can do so by following the link on the email sent out this week via SchoolsBuddy. Co-Curricular Activities - Spring Term Co-curricular activity sessions for spring term clubs will begin from Monday 10th January, apart from any clubs which take place outdoors at the end of the school day. These will begin from Monday 17th January (which will allow for more daylight as the days get longer). RSPB Bird Watch Week 2022 We continue to encourage families to enjoy the outdoors and sign up for the annual Big Garden Bird Watch which will be running from 28th - 30th January 2022.  Please see the link here on how to sign up.   Happier January Calendar and Happiness Jars As per the Head's Blog this week please see the link here to download your Happier January Calendar. We look forward to hearing about the 'happiness jars' that your children are creating at home. You may wish to join them in this lovely gratitude/happiness activity.  Class Assemblies We will not be having our usual annual Exhibition Day this year but instead parents will be invited to to view pupils' work back in the classroom following your child's class assembly.  You may therefore wish to schedule in a little more time to spend at school on the morning when you attend your child's class assembly.   Covid-19 PCR Tests Confirmatory PCR tests following a positive lateral flow device (LFD) test result are to be temporarily suspended from Tuesday 11th January. This will mean that anyone who receives a positive LFD test result will be required to self-isolate immediately and will not be required to take a confirmatory PCR test.
Posted on: 7/01/2022

Perseverance leads to Happiness

Happy New Year to one and all!  It is a joy to be back at school with our pupils and staff. The cold, crisp, blue skies of recent mornings have been such an invigorating start to this new term. In the first assembly of this term our new school value of ‘Perseverance’ was introduced to the children along with the Action for Happiness calendar for January (feel free to download).   We are encouraging everyone to focus on small steps to try to boost happiness - for ourselves and others around us - to spread kindness and hopefully inspire others to do the same. Some days this may not be as easy as it sounds and perseverance is required. It is often easy to feel frustrated when we are challenged by something or someone, easy to give up, walk away or even respond in a negative way. However, if we can all nurture the quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult, by persevering it can often lead to ‘happiness’. Happiness is an emotional state characterised by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfilment. While happiness has many different definitions, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction. Happiness is generally linked to experiencing more positive feelings than negative. To help us all become more aware of our happiness the children have been challenged to create their own ‘Happiness Jars’. A happiness jar is quite simply a container in which you put a daily or weekly note of gratitude. On a piece of paper, write down one good thing that has happened or one thing you are grateful for that day, fold it up and pop it into the jar. My empty ‘Percy Pig’ jar has made a superb ‘happiness jar’ and I have already popped my first gratitude note for what made me happy in my jar. As I explained to the children in assembly, I will choose when I need to dip into my happiness jar to reflect on my happy moments to savour the gratitude and joy I experienced. It may be that I choose to do this regularly or wait until the end of the year to reflect upon my happy moments of 2022. We can choose when we may need to be boosted and reminded of the good things in our lives. I wish you all a very ‘Happy’ start to 2022 and good health as we take steps into the next phase of our turbulent journey through this pandemic time we are living in. Let us take time each day to be grateful for our families, friends and each other.  Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 10/12/2021

Weekly News - Friday 10th December 2021

  Nursery Nativity Assemblies Very well done indeed to the children of our Robins and Wrens Nursery classes, who presented wonderful musical Christmas assemblies to their parents in the Methodist Church Hall this week. Their confidence in getting up to perform, on 'stage', at the age of just 3 or 4 was astonishing, especially considering how much their social development could have been affected by the Covid pandemic. It is a real testament to the St. Helen's College community of staff, parents and fellow pupils that they each felt comfortable and confident enough to sing so beautifully for their audience. Thank you, Nursery, for presenting the Christmas story with such charm. We are very proud of you all.   Carol Service Children at Upper School attended a virtual carol service this morning which was pre-recorded and included readings, choir performances and the Christmas story told by Reverend Sarah Smith. Parents may watch the recording here. Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch We would like to extend a big thank you to the wonderful Accent catering team who provided such a super Christmas lunch yesterday. The dining halls were filled with music and laughter as everyone tucked in to traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings or a delicious vegetable wellington. Crackers were pulled, hats were worn and jokes were told! Throughout the school, children and staff wore Christmas jumpers and the festive spirit was very much with us all!   Ducklings and Lower School Christmas Celebrations The children at Ducklings and Lower School were thrilled to receive a surprise visit from Father Christmas on Thursday! They also really enjoyed their Christmas party celebrations. Parents might like to see our Lower School choir singing Christmas songs here. Christmas Tree Decoration Competition Thank you to all of the children who worked so hard to contribute imaginative and colourful home-made decorations for our school Christmas trees. It was difficult to judge the competition this year! Well done to our Upper School winners: Shayna C, Avleen P, Inaaya S, Karter P, Verity S, Tiya T, Annabelle S, Joleen Z and Layla O.     Congratulations too to the Lower School winners: Sara B, Aidan S, Kyan K, Kiran S, Tansy M and Leonard S.           Awards Congratulations to Eshan N, who was today named the Music Personality of the Autumn Term. Eshan has shown outstanding commitment, effort and achievement in music over many years. He is a valued member of both the Senior Choir and Chamber Choir and he plays the violin, drums and ukulele. Eshan is currently working towards his Grade 4 violin and learning his first concerto too. Well done also to Jessica B, who has been named Sports Personality of the Autumn Term. Jessica consistently displays the school sporting values of respect, inspiration, determination and leadership. Her netball and football contributions are super and she has worked extremely hard this term to improve her cross country running times too. Riyan T has been awarded a special 'green' Blue Peter badge to recognise his commitment to the environment. Riyan produced a wonderful poster all about polar bears and how we can improve their environment to help their chances of survival as they are an endangered species. The House Cup was this term won by Cambria. Our House Captains announced the results and gave speeches to congratulate the winners and to encourage the members of Windsor to keep pushing on next term in the hope of winning the cup back! Science Fun at Upper School Our Year 4 children really enjoyed making circuits to light up Rudolf's nose and other Christmas pictures on cards on Wednesday.             5G had great fun exploring butterfly chromatography in their science lessons this week too.           Cookery Club Last week, Cookery Club children made quesadillas and they were particularly engaged when making their Christmas cookies this week!         Staff Farewell Today we said goodbye to Mrs. O'Mahoney, who is leaving us to go and work for the NHS. She will greatly missed by our Nursery children and her colleagues. We wish her all the very best for the future.         Alumni News In Summer 2023, more than  40,000 Scouts from all over the world will gather in South Korea for the 25th World Scout Jamboree. The World Scout Jamboree happens every four years, each time hosted by a different country. Thousands of UK young people aged 14 to 17 and their leaders will travel to South Korea as the UK Contingent.  Having successfully gone through the selection process, former St. Helen's College pupil (and Head Girl) Ruby Cargill has been selected to attend as part of the team from Greater London. Ruby is absolutely thrilled to have been chosen for this once in a lifetime experience. NextGen Enterprise Christmas Courses For those interested in taking part in Christmas courses with NextGen, here are the details, dates and booking links: Christmas course – 12.30 - 2.30 p.m. over 5 days – 20th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th December. This is the first part where children are taken through entrepeuneral fundamentals including personal finance and business finance. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19BPSE-Bg8dRAkfST1RgOSQq37kxRcNdOLU3cSmX3eVY/viewform?edit_requested=true Entrepreneurial pathway –  10 a.m. - 11 a.m. 13-16th  and 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.17th Dec (This would be the Bronze course) 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. 20-24th Dec & 29th-30th Dec (This would be the Bronze course). https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sZSt9PgkmqXyYJElnL9x6PC4ZeIDpPyMZYOtPCUt1qg/viewform?edit_requested=true Perform Drama - Free Session and £40 Discount Perform is a popular children's drama and dance school. They are offering a free trial session and a special introductory discount of £40 for members of St. Helen's College who sign up by Wednesday 26th January. Parents should quote SHLE260122 when booking their free session by going to perform.org.uk/try or calling 020 7255 9120. You can find out more about the classes at perform.org.uk/try. Alternatively, pdf flyers can be downloaded from here. The nearest classes to St. Helen's College are these (please click for a map and further details): Perform Ickenham (Drama for 4-7s) (1.3 miles) Fridays at 4pm Ickenham Village Hall 33 Swakeleys Road, UB10 8DG Perform Ickenham (Drama for 7-12s) (1.3 miles) Fridays at 5.05pm Ickenham Village Hall 33 Swakeleys Road, UB10 8DG Perform Iver (Drama for 4-7s) (2.9 miles) Tuesdays at 4pm St Peter's Centre 1 Thorney Lane North, SL0 9JU Perform Iver (Drama for 7-12s) (2.9 miles) Tuesdays at 5.05pm St Peter's Centre 1 Thorney Lane North, SL0 9JU Perform Eastcote (Drama for 4-7s) (3.5 miles) Thursdays at 4pm Eastcote Methodist Church Pamela Gardens, HA5 2QU There are others too. Click to find all the nearest here or view a list of all areas. Perform's family musical Jungle Rumble is being performed at the Fortune Theatre over the February half term. You can see full details and purchase tickets here. RocketLearn Christmas Camp We have arranged for all children in Years 3-6 to have FREE access to the RocketLearn Online Christmas Camp – usual cost £20/child. The camp runs over the holidays and includes a variety of online broadcast lessons and activities covering Maths, English, Skills, PE and Well-being all aimed at children aged 7-13. If you would like to sign up please visit https://bit.ly/RLchristmascamp and enter the code STHELENS on checkout to reserve a free place. You can find additional information also on the pdf which has been sent out by email to Year 3-6 parents today. We hope your children will enjoy the activities and it would be wonderful to see our pupils enter the Creative Writing Competition that is also taking place at the camp. Spring Term 2022 Planned events for the spring term have been added to the school calendar so do take a look here and make a note of dates relevant to your child's year group/class. The spring term lunch menu is now available on the School Documents page of the website here. Co-curricular clubs will begin in the first full week of term, the week beginning Monday 10th January. If you have any queries about the co-curriculum programme or specific clubs, please contact Mr. Harrington, our Director of Co-Curriculum, at lharrington@sthelenscollege.com. Wraparound care bookings for the spring term (Breakfast Club and Funtasia After School Club) can now be made via your SchoolsBuddy account. From next term, Breakfast Club will run in the Evans Hall for both Lower School and Upper School pupils. Please make your bookings by 12 p.m. on the preceding day. We do appreciate parents booking in advance wherever possible as this really helps with staffing, catering and other logistics. Over the Christmas holidays, please take the opportunity to check the condition of required uniform and equipment to ensure that it is smart and in good working order, replenishing as necessary. The uniform/equipment list can be found here. Please also make sure that haircuts adhere to school guidelines (girls' hair should be neatly tied back if long, using black or green bands/clips and boys' hair should be cut neatly above the collar with no shaving, gelling etc). The felt winter caps and girls' hats should be worn as part of school uniform. The school woolly hats are ONLY for use at playtimes and outdoor lessons in bitter weather conditions, not for wearing to and from school. Upon our return to school, please ensure that you follow the school parking regulations (available here) and that any snacks you send into school with your children follow our policy: no nuts, no chocolate/high sugar items etc. Suitable snacks are fruit or vegetables or plain biscuits and your child should have a named, refillable water bottle with them every day.  Please also ensure that your child arrives at school in good time before the bell goes at 8.30 a.m. so that they are ready to line up with their class for registration. We encourage parents to drop children by 8.25 a.m. at the latest. We would also like to remind parents that the cost of peripatetic music lessons is increasing next term to £22.50 per half hour.  
Posted on: 10/12/2021

Self-Care

We live in a world of myriad opportunities, one in which the temptation is strong for adults and children alike to over-schedule ourselves as we attempt to take advantage of the wealth of activities on offer. This can be a very good thing in many ways: one of the pillars of mental health is to keep learning, to keep growing, to discover new things and forge new relationships. But there is a danger, too, that we might over-commit ourselves or our children to a timetable of class after class, activity after activity, in an effort to ‘make the most’ of ourselves and our time. There is another way to ‘make the most’ of ourselves, though, and that is through self-care. St. Helen’s College is, as all parents, children and staff will know, an extremely busy place. Every day, pupils engage in a different series of academic lessons and enrichment activities, physical play and education, team sports, art, music and drama opportunities, performance rehearsals, technological discovery, clubs and social gatherings. We are proud of the diverse and challenging nature of the education we offer, but we are also particularly proud of the ways in which we are able to teach children about the importance of self-care and to offer opportunities for self-care here at school too. Through teaching Mindfulness and offering moments of stillness and Mindfulness practice in assemblies, we equip children with the tools to calm their minds, recognise unhealthy thoughts and regroup mentally and emotionally. In Philosophy for Children sessions, too, pupils are encouraged to listen without judgement and to take time to examine, formulate and accept thoughts and feelings that may be alien or worrying at first. Our Wellbeing Focus Days give the opportunity for staff and children to step outside of the ‘daily grind’ (fun as it so often is) and consider how we can support ourselves and others to stay healthy and well, both mentally and physically. Through these days, children are introduced to simple practices like journal keeping or art therapy that can really help to underpin positive and ongoing mental health. Class teachers run regular tutorials and circle time sessions with their classes, both individually and as a group, which give children the opportunity to talk about their experiences and make sense of them as well as to consider both their own targets and how they may best support one another. We are enormously fortunate, too, to have Mrs. Brooker, our qualified school counsellor, who is able to offer children ‘time to talk’ in a non-judgemental space. When we experience the power of someone else being able to hold our feelings, quietly and strongly, with unconditional positive regard for us, we learn that we can do this for ourselves, too. What an amazing thing to learn at a young age. For those who work in schools, finding time for self-care in term time can be a tricky business, and never more so than over the last two years since the onset of the Covid pandemic. This term, several staff members have suffered from Covid and other winter bugs; many are, at this stage of term, quietly enduring mounting tiredness and the onset of burnout: the mornings are early and cold, the late nights and evening meetings take their toll. The emotional strain of trying to be and give of your best self, all day every day, in order to enrich children’s experiences and give them the correct support and challenge can be exhausting. Add in an inspection week for good measure and it has undeniably been a tiring term. It is a testament to our amazing staff and their genuine love for your children that they do not complain and that they continue to give of their best selves every single day. My hope for each one of them is that they find time for plenty of self-care over the Christmas break. It is, as you will all know, extremely tough to be a parent, too. Sleep-deprived nights, early mornings, emotional children, hormones, juggling those work/home schedules, attempting to make sense of homework, trying to find time to be a good partner, a good mother, a good father, a good daughter, a good son, a good friend, being everyone’s taxi driver...it can be overwhelming at times. So it is crucial that you take time for self-care too, whether that is an hour at the gym, curling up with a cup of tea and a good book, social time with friends and family or just a few minutes of quiet time to focus on your own breathing. Taking time for yourself is not a luxury, but a necessity. It can and will support you in being ‘good’ or ‘useful’ to others. I recommend, in particular, trying a simple Mindfulness practice each day or as often in the week as you are able.  The St. Helen’s College community has always been wonderful at taking care of each other. Now, ahead of the busy festive period, I encourage us all not to feel guilty about taking time to care for ourselves. Happy Christmas to you all. Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 3/12/2021

Weekly News - Friday 3rd December 2021

Reception and Year 1 Christmas Assemblies Our Reception and Year 1 children presented beautiful, heartwarming and very confident Christmas assemblies to their parents this week. The children of 1C and 1R told us the story of Christmas and the history of many of our modern day Christmas traditions, performed some beautiful (and fun) songs, told us a Christmas poem and led us in prayer. The children of Owls and Kingfishers performed traditional Nativity plays for their assemblies yesterday and today, delighting their parents and school staff with their portrayal of the familiar characters from the Christmas story, and with their wonderful costumes. They each spoke and sang with great joy and confidence. We are very proud of the Reception and Year 1 children. It was lovely to see so many parents in attendance at these events and we are sure that you enjoyed seeing your children perform too. 2B Assembly Well done also to the children of 2B, who performed a moving assembly for us all today. They looked at the gifts they were each hoping to receive for Christmas and then considered what other gifts we could all give to others which might not cost a penny, but might make the world a better place: hugs, smiles, love, care for the environment and more. They recounted and acted out a story of a kind-hearted, animal-loving child who accidentally sent a shopping list to Santa by mistake, and ended up with everything she really wanted for Christmas when she was given the items she needed to feed and care for the cold, hungry animals about whom she was so worried.  2B's confident, tuneful and very beautiful rendition of 'We Are The World' will stay with us all for a long time, as will the important message they shared with us today. Bravo, 2B! Year 3 Roman Day On Wednesday Year 3 had a Roman Day at school. It was great fun and everyone looked amazing! They found out what it was like to be a gladiator in Ancient Rome, made clocks with Roman numerals and enjoyed Roman drumming.   They also had a Roman feast and made Roman shields.   Thank you to all of the parents for providing such fabulous costumes and to all of the children who were so enthusiastic and really made the most of the chance to enrich their learning about the Romans.    You can see more images of the day on our Galleries page here.     Science Quiz On Tuesday 30th November two teams of children from Years 5 and 6 took part in a national science quiz. Out of 89 teams we finished 48th (team 2) and 23rd (team 1) with team 1 qualifying for the semi finals in February. Congratulations to both teams for participating. Team 1 Aryan B, Luka K, Jacob N, Advik S (made it through to the semi finals). Team 2 Reiss D, Diyan C, Minaya W, Arshvir S  Salvation Army Christmas Appeal Here you can see Avar D and Arup D with the pile of presents that the school has amassed for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. These were collected by The Salvation Army today and will be distributed to children in the local community. We are sure that their faces will light up when they receive their surprise gifts. Thank you to the Dhillon family for suggesting this initiative and we would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to every family who has donated gifts for this appeal. Christmas Card Deliveries Children may bring Christmas cards into school and post them in our school postboxes for delivery to other children or staff on their school site. Christmas Decoration Competition Just a reminder that children's home made Christmas decorations must be brought into school by Wednesday 8th December. Prizes will be awarded on Friday 10th December. Pantomime The Theatre Royal in Windsor has offered St. Helen's College families the chance to buy tickets for 'Jack and the Beanstalk' at the discounted school price of £15 for the following performances. Friday 3rd December - 4.30 p.m.  (pupils will be given permission to leave school early if you attend this performance) Wednesday 15th December - 7 p.m. Thursday 16th December - 7 p.m. Thursday 6th January - 7 p.m. If you would like to attend as a family, please use the following link to book your tickets: https://sthelens.schoolcloud.co.uk/clubsevents/admin/events/111158 and a charge will be added to your SchoolsBuddy account.  This offer is open to the whole school. Tickets must be booked by Thursday 9th December. RocketLearn Christmas Camp We have arranged for all children in Years 3-6 to have FREE access to the RocketLearn Online Christmas Camp – usual cost £20/child. The camp runs over the holidays and includes a variety of online broadcast lessons and activities covering Maths, English, Skills, PE and Well-being all aimed at children aged 7-13. If you would like to sign up please visit https://bit.ly/RLchristmascamp and enter the code STHELENS on checkout to reserve a free place. You can find additional information also on the pdf which has been sent out by email to Year 3-6 parents today. We hope your children will enjoy the activities and it would be wonderful to see our pupils enter the Creative Writing Competition that is also taking place at the camp. NextGen Enterprise Taster Session On Monday NextGen Enterprise held an online taster session with over 20 attendees from Years 5 and 6. The children learnt a lot and had so much fun doing it. If you are interested in signing up please visit https://nextgenenterprise.co.uk/. Just a reminder that there is an exclusive offer of 25% off for St. Helen’s College students which will be valid until the 10th December. You can see the NextGen prospectus here. You can see the NextGen presentation from Monday here. Carols Around The Tree It was super to welcome so many parents and children to Upper School today for our annual Carols Around The Tree event. Thank you to all those who came along to get into the festive spirit with us! End of Term Next Friday, 10th December, is the last day of term and is a half day. Children should be collected at the following times unless they are booked into Funtasia: 11.50 a.m. (Ducklings & Nursery) 12.00 p.m. (Reception) 12.10 p.m. (Years 1, 2) 12.20 p.m. (Years 3, 4) 12.30 p.m. (Years 5, 6)
Posted on: 26/11/2021

Weekly News - Friday 26th November 2021

COP26 Talk Children in Years 1-6 were very lucky this week to be joined live from New York by one of the organisers of the recent COP26 summit, who spoke to them about why and how the summit was organised and its aims. You can read more about this in this week's Head's Blog here.  3MB Class Assembly The children of 3MB presented a class assembly this morning all about babies! They looked at the best years of their lives so far and how they have changed since they were babies. They thought about getting older and had some interesting interviews with their grandparents. They also thought about what they might be like as adults and wrote some letters to their older selves. They cleverly linked their theme with our school value of kindness and considered how we should be kind to everyone, including ourselves. The children were clearly so happy to share their assembly with so many parents, pupils and staff. Well done, 3MB, on a thoroughly enjoyable performance.  Month End Music Recital As always, it was a real treat to end the month with an informal music recital in the Evans Hall at Upper School. We heard a wide variety of pieces and instruments, including piano and cello performances from five of our Year 2 pupils and over twelve performers from Years 4, 5 and 6 delighted us with guitar, piano, flute, violin and singing. Well done to all of those who performed. Lower School Gardening Club At Lower School, children have been making flower arrangements in Gardening Club this week, using foliage from teachers' gardens and fresh flowers. The children really enjoyed designing their own arrangements! We hope that all of the children across the school who have taken part in co-curricular activities this term have enjoyed the chance to have a go at something new, and maybe have discovered an interest or talent they did not know they had.   Co-Curricular Allocations Club allocations for the spring term were sent out to parents yesterday (Thursday 25th November) and parents have until midnight on Monday 29th November to pay. Any places allocated for which payment has not been received by this deadline will be allocated to children on the waiting lists. NextGen Enterprise - Monday 29th November We have secured an exclusive one-hour virtual taster session with NextGen Enterprise on Monday 29th November from 6.30 - 7.30 p.m. for pupils in Year 5 and Year 6.  NextGen Enterprise provide entrepreneurial courses to ages 10-15 and aim to introduce the next generation of entrepreneurs to a world of innovation, collaboration, and creativity. Many of our alumni have been on the NextGen Enterprise courses and we have received fantastic feedback. Parents have already been emailed the link to the event (https://zoom.us/j/95271795428?pwd=alpZbHRxdkN5UCs1K0g5ejVUWGJ2QT09) and we hope that many of our pupils will participate in this super opportunity. Christmas Events Next week sees the beginning of Christmas festivities here at St. Helen's College and there are many exciting events coming up.  The PA Christmas Party is this weekend on Sunday 28th November and we are sure that everyone who is attending will enjoy the festive fun. Christmas Tree Decoration Competition Pupils across the school are invited to make a homemade decoration for one of the school Christmas trees and these can be brought into school from Monday 29th November.  Please make sure that the child's name and class are attached in some way to the decoration and that they are not too heavy for us to hang on the tree. There will be prizes for each year group. The closing date is Wednesday 8th December. Lower School Tuesday 30th November - 1C Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church Wednesday 1st December - 1R Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church Thursday 2nd December - Owls Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church Friday 3rd December - Kingfishers Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church For each of these Lower School assemblies, coffee will be served in the Lower School Hall at 8.15 a.m. and parents will then be directed to the church in time for the start of the assembly at 8.45 a.m. There will be a collection at the end of each assembly for the St. Helen's College Trust. Our Nursery classes will perform their Christmas assemblies the following week. Thursday 9th December - Wear a Christmas jumper day. Lower School children will enjoy a visiting pantomime production in the afternoon. Details will be sent to parents separately. Upper School Friday 3rd December - 2B Coffee Morning/Class Assembly (Coffee from 8.15 a.m. in the Evans Hall, assembly from 8.40 a.m. in the Upper School Hall) Friday 3rd December - Carols Around The Tree at Upper School (Lower School families, Y2 and Y3 from 3.20 to 3.40 p.m. and Year 4, 5 and 6 from 3.40 p.m. to 4 p.m.) Wednesday 8th December - Year 2-6 Pantomime trip to 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Full details will be sent separately to parents. Thursday 9th December - Wear a Christmas jumper day. Friday 10th December - Carol Service. Our Year 6 parents are invited to attend All Saints Church at 11 a.m. on Friday 10th for our Christmas Service which will be hosted by our Year 6 pupils, the school orchestra and choirs.  As per our Harvest service we are limiting the audience in the church due to the Covid protocols which are still in place.  We will be recording a similar Carol Service for the pupils who are back in school to participate in and this will be shared in due course with our parent body.  Christmas Lunch Christmas lunch will be served for all children from Nursery to Year 6 on Thursday 9th December. The menu is available here. Orders will be taken from the children in school next week, so please discuss the menu with your child so that they know what they would like to order. Salvation Army Christmas Present Appeal You may recall that last year we successfully ran the Christmas Present Appeal for the Hillingdon Salvation Army. Encouraged by the same St. Helen’s College family, we would like to encourage the pupils to participate again. This is such a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate our school’s core values by helping those local families less fortunate than ourselves. Therefore we are inviting your child to choose a brand new toy/game for ages 3-11 with a value of approximately £12. The Salvation Army has also suggested gift vouchers. The item should not be gift wrapped and should fit inside a shopping plastic bag. Please allow your child to bring in their donation by Friday 3rd December. We will have systems in place so that gifts can be put into a class collection bag and subsequently quarantined until The Salvation Army collects them. We will launch the appeal in our assemblies and really hope it is something you feel able to support. Thank you so much in advance for your kindness and generosity. Charity Fundraising We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to parents, pupils and staff for all of the recent generous charity donations received. We are delighted to say that the St. Helen's College community has raised: Poppy Appeal  -  £382.35    Children In Need - £1,984.92 Uniform Reminder Please may we remind parents that pupils should be wearing their winter felt caps and hats to and from school and that the woollen beanie hat is only for use in the school playground. 
Posted on: 26/11/2021

COP26

The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 13 November 2021. On Tuesday 23rd November all the pupils and staff of St Helen’s College were fortunate enough to be joined by Raakhi Williams, the aunt of Veer (3MB) and Laksh (1C), who is the Deputy Head of the COP26 Delivery Department with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.  Raakhi spoke to us live from New York,  via Googlemeet, where she is currently based and shared with us her experiences of leading on three major projects as part of COP26. Raakhi led on the ‘Adaptation - Loss & Damage Day’ at the conference and explained to the children that some of the worst effects of climate change are being felt by  many poorer countries where some of the losses they are experiencing cannot be replaced. She gave us the example of the Maldives where the islands are already sinking and this is not due to anything that the people of this country have done but sadly this is a great loss to the people and the culture of these islands.  It has been agreed that richer countries will support poorer countries to recover  but for some change is not happening quickly enough and this is what many of the protestors who attended the events were protesting about.   Raakhi then explained that one of her other projects was to organise the safe arrival of 120 world leaders to the World Leaders Summit.  This ranged from ensuring that invitation letters were sent out to the world leaders, trying to minimise the number of people actually travelling to the UK for the summit to organising where Boris Johnson would stand to greet people, where the cars would arrive to etc.  A logistical nightmare one can imagine! Raakhi explained to the children how important it was that people attended the event in person to enable all the discussions and negotiations which took place around the clock to eventually form the ‘The Glasgow Climate Pact’. The final project which Raakhi led on was the vaccine programme and ensuring that all the attendees were vaccinated prior to the event. Vaccines were sent out to 75 countries who did not have access to the vaccines to ensure that COP26 was as safe as possible.  Our pupils were given the opportunity prior to the presentation to think of questions for Raakhi and we are delighted that so many pupils posed their thought provoking questions.  Please see below the array of questions put forward by pupils in Year 3 and Year 4.  It would also be super for you to hear from your children and think of the small changes which you may be able to make as a family to assist in this global issue of climate change.   Questions from Year 3 and Year 4 pupils: Questions for you personally: How does it feel being part of something amazing and which may change the world forever? How many leaders turned up at the event and did you meet anyone famous? What things have you done to help COP26? What is the most important thing you have learned working on COP26? How many people work at COP26 and how long have you worked on the project? More general questions about COP26: How can we help make a difference?  Why can't we start using renewable energy now?  How can we build up the ice in the Arctic?  What is the biggest contributor to climate change? How often does COP happen and how will it help? Why does everyone travel to COP26? The Young Poets Network teamed up with People Need Nature to launch a competition for young people on how to imagine solutions to the climate crisis inspired by the natural world. I have linked the website where you can find the winning poems.  We would be delighted if any of our pupils or even parents were able to take the opportunity to write from their perspective on how they imagine solutions to our climate crisis.  Climate change is real, it is now and in our future and we encourage all families to continue the conversations by trying to understand how other people across the world are experiencing climate change and the role we all can play in protecting our planet. I am so proud of the work going on at St. Helen’s College already to further educate us all. We hope that next year at COP27 in Egypt we will hear more about the steps which are being taken worldwide and that we all will have made further compromises in our lives to assist.  Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 19/11/2021

Weekly News - Friday 19th November 2021

Children In Need We have had a lot of fun today at school fundraising for Children in Need and have thought seriously, too, about why we are raising money and about the issues that affect children less fortunate than our own. Children and staff throughout the school dressed in spots, yellow, Children in Need merchandise or just their own clothes. Many bought wristbands and entered the Design a Pudsey Bear competition. The raffles were, as usual, one of the highlights of the day! The raffle winners were: Ducklings: Gobind B (Blush), Noah G-W (Pudsey) Lower School: Eleanor G (Blush), Anika S (Pudsey) Middle School: Veer K (Blush), Daya R (Pudsey) Upper School: Jacob N (Blush), Antony F (Pudsey) The winner(s) of the Design a Pudsey Bear competition will be chosen by our Charity Reps next week. We would like to thank parents sincerely for your generous support of this very worthy charity and for helping your children to understand why it is so important to help those in need. It is not too late to donate via the St. Helen's College Children in Need JustGiving page here.  You can see more photographs of the children enjoying Children in Need Day on our Galleries page here. 2H Class Assembly - Buckets Wow! Well done to the children of 2H who presented a very charming and thought provoking assembly this morning about buckets! They explained that we each have a bucket that can be filled with good feelings and kindness and that, if we are kind and inclusive or do good deeds, we are filling other people's buckets but also filling our own.  They sang a beautiful song to remind us that we can all count on each other, explained how we can help others less fortunate through Children in Need, and led us in prayer. Every child spoke their lines with confidence and projection and we are very proud of them all. While 2H presented their assembly live to their parents this morning, the other children at Upper School watched a pre-recorded version. You might like to watch it too - it is available here. Chamber Choir - St. John's Smith Square We were very proud of our Chamber Choir who performed magnificently last Sunday at the Children's Trust London Schools Concert. Thank you to all of the parents who came along to support such a worthwhile charitable cause. We have received some lovely feedback from one of the concert organisers, who wrote:  "Your school was absolutely amazing – I really enjoyed your performances. Power in Me was particularly one of my favourites on the day. We cannot thank you enough for all your fantastic hard work and for kindly supporting us on the day. Your support allowed us to raise over £8,000 for children with brain injury." You can watch the videos of the performances here: Power In Me All Things Bright And Beautiful Gurupurab Today is a very special day as members of the Sikh community celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak. Thank you to parents Mrs. Raikmo and Mrs. Daheley for their input into assemblies over the last couple of weeks. Mrs. Raikmo celebrated with Lower School children yesterday.       Inspection It has been a pleasure to welcome a team of ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate) inspectors into St. Helen's College this week for both a compliance and an educational quality inspection. We have enjoyed showcasing our school, pupils and staff and demonstrating all that we do to ensure that the pupils have the best possible educational experience. The inspection report should be available within five weeks and we will of course share this with parents when we receive it.  Many thanks to all of the parents who responded to the inspection questionnaire so quickly and so positively. IAPS iArt Competition  After the success of iArt 2021, in which Arya A at St. Helen's College was a winner, IAPS will be running the competition again in 2022 and hopes to receive more submissions than ever. Shortlisted entrants will receive prizes of vouchers for local independent bookshops.   This year, the competition will have a theme and all submissions must in some way relate to this theme. The theme is my role model.   This theme has been chosen because IAPS is interested to see who inspires pupils, who motivates them, who they admire and who they would like to be like when they grow up. The role models can be anyone: someone personal e.g. a family member, friend, teacher, coach, librarian, a member of the local community; someone “in general” e.g. nurses, doctors, train drivers, farmers; someone public e.g. a famous person, such as a sportsperson, environmentalist, singer While IAPS encourages pupils to attempt a portrait of their role model, pupils – and particularly, younger pupils – should feel free to just paint / draw / create something which reminds them of their role model instead. For example, if a pupil’s role model is David Attenborough, they might choose to paint trees and animals, or if their role model is a parent, they might choose to draw a picture of their house.  Each pupil must write a maximum of 100 words in a sentence or two to accompany their piece of work, saying 'My role model is...because...'. Entries will be judged on a) interpretation of the theme; b) creativity around the theme; c) overall design; d) and that ‘certain something’ that just draws you to the artwork! There is no set format for entries and artwork can be submitted in any medium. Submissions can be paintings, drawings, or models, any size, and use any art supplies.     There are five categories for the iArt competition: Years 1 & 2, Years 3 & 4, Years 5 & 6, Years 7 & 8 and Years 9 & 10.  Each school may enter one piece of art for each category. For example, one piece of artwork representing the Years 5 & 6 category, not one artwork from Year 5 and one from Year 6.   The competition opens for entries on Thursday, 6 January. The deadline for submission is noon on Wednesday, 4 May and the shortlist will be announced later that month. Winners will be invited to attend an awards ceremony which will take place towards the end of June.   Pupils who would like to enter this competition should submit their pieces of art and accompanying sentences directly to Mrs. Pruce or via their class teacher. Mrs. Drummond and Mrs. Pruce will judge which entries to put forward from St. Helen's College. This might be a lovely Christmas holiday activity for the children. Good luck everyone and happy creating! Alumni News Don't Unleash The Beast is being shown on CITV starting on Monday (November 22nd) at 5.30 p.m. It is also available on the ITV hub afterwards. Two Old Helenians will be appearing in the show. Samir H is in the Firecracker team and his show is on Tuesday November 23rd. Vidhit N's show is appearing later - possibly Tuesday November 30th. We hope that you will watch the shows and support our Old Helenians and their teams! Co-Curricular Activities - Spring Term Bookings for co-curricular activities for the Spring term will open at 4.00 p.m. today. Please login to your SchoolsBuddy account to make your selections by the deadline of midnight on Monday 22nd November. Co-curricular club allocations will be confirmed to parents in due course and we ask that you make any payments due promptly at that point in order to confirm your child's place. Christmas Holiday Club Bookings open at 4.00 p.m. today for the Christmas Holiday Club, which will run from Monday 13th December to Tuesday 21st December. Please login to your SchoolsBuddy account to book your child's place. Author Event On Saturday 11th December from 1.00 - 3.00 p.m., bestselling children's author Lauren Child will be signing copies of her latest books, Clarice Bean: Think Like An Elf and Pippi Longstocking, at Chorleywood Bookshop. We hope that many of you will take your children along to meet the author and perhaps buy a copy of one or both of these lovely books to support them in reading for pure enjoyment! You can find full details and book tickets for the event here. Next Week Next Friday 3MB will be performing their class assembly. 3MB parents are welcome to join us for coffee from 8.15 a.m. and the assembly will begin at 8.40 a.m. Also next Friday we have our November Month End Music Recital in the Evans Hall from 3.45 p.m. We hope that many parents will join us! Accent Catering Survey Yesterday we circulated a survey to parents of children in Nursery to Year 6, asking for your feedback about the catering service here at school. Many thanks to all of those parents who have already completed the short questionnaire. If you have not already done so, please do check your SchoolsBuddy account and complete the survey to give us your feedback. Your responses will be used to inform how we may improve the catering service even further. Pupils in Years 3 - 6 will also be asked to complete a short survey in school next week so that their views may be taken into account too. Parents are reminded that the school menu is always available in the School Documents section of the school website here.  PA Raffle Donations The PA will be running a raffle at the PA children's Christmas parties and would love donations from parents. If you have anything to donate, you can bring items to either Upper or Lower School where there will be collection points outside school each morning. Many thanks in advance for any prizes you are able to donate.
Posted on: 12/11/2021

Weekly News - Friday 12th November 2021

Year 1 Trip - Roald Dahl Gallery To enrich their literacy studies, Year 1 enjoyed an action packed day on Tuesday at the Roald Dahl Gallery in Aylesbury. They explored the museum and gardens looking for inspiration for their dream bottles and then became very engrossed illustrating their ideas and creating their very own dream bottle! They also had fun investigating all the hands on exhibits within the gallery. They went inside a giant peach and used a microscope to identify numerous mini-beasts. They also had fun in Fantastic Mr. Fox's tunnel and loved pretending to fly up the shoot in Willy Wonka's Factory! The children did, however, keep away from The Chokey as none of them wanted to be put in there by Mrs. Trunchbull!  It was an amazing day and the children all agreed that they would love to go back again! We would encourage parents to take children to this wonderful place whenever the opportunity arises.  You can see lots of photographs of the trip on our Galleries page. Year 3 Music This term in music lessons, Year 3 are learning about Music from Western Africa. This week they enjoyed playing Djembe drums to improvise their own rhythms over an ostinato pattern.        Year 3 Maths In Maths this week, Year 3 have been learning about perimeter. They enjoyed taking their learning outside where they measured the perimeter of different things in the playground.         Chamber Choir Performance at St. John's Smith Square We wish the Chamber Choir well for Sunday, when they will be joining with other prep schools from across London to perform in the Children's Trust Concert at the beautiful St. John's Smith Square. Thank you to everyone who will be attending to support the choir - you are in for a treat! This is the first of many opportunities for our Chamber Choir to perform this year. Sports News On Wednesday our U11 netball team played against St. Mary's School and continued their winning streak, with the match ending 8-0. Both teams showed great skill and determination in some pretty awful weather as the match progressed, as well as excellent sporting attitudes. Well done, girls!   Congratulations are also due to our U11 football team who won the Reddiford Challenge Cup tournament this week and brought their trophy back to school with pride! They won three matches and drew two during the competition, which secured them the top spot from amongst six local prep schools. We are very proud of their performance.         Switch Off Fortnight We have had a very successful start to our Switch Off Fortnight. All of the children have been very active in ensuring the lights are being turned off in their classrooms and other empty rooms, powering down their Chromebooks when not in use and making sure that teachers are turning off the overhead projectors and computers at the end of lessons. We will continue our energy saving campaign next week, when we will also be announcing which class had the most amount of switch offs and will be awarded the title of Eco Class of the week. We hope that you are all remembering to switch off at home wherever possible too. Road Safety Week - Next Week Next week is Road Safety Week and we ask that the children wear bright socks next Friday as part of the 'Be Bright, Be Seen' initiative. Our new Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTAs) presented an assembly on 'Road Safety Heroes' and Be Bright, Be Seen' today to inspire the children to take part in this important initiative. There is further information for parents here.  World Kindness Day Saturday 13th November is World Kindness Day. At school we have been looking at random acts of kindness, and parents might like to do something similar at home with your children over the weekend. You can find out more information here: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/world-kindness-day Mrs. Drummond's Head's Blog this week also addresses themes of kindness and happiness.  Charity Well done to Tiya T, one of our charity representatives, who showed great initiative in writing to Lord Dolar Popat, the Prime Minister's Trade Evnvoy to Rwanda, Uganda and DRC, to let him know about the work we are currently doing at school to support Children in Need and the Royal British Legion. Tiya shared with him a poster that she had made to promote our charity efforts. Lord Dolar Popat replied to Tiya's email to congratulate the school on its efforts and to pledge a donation to our fundraising. Remembrance Day Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Poppy Appeal this week. We thought that you might like to see this beautiful display, which is currently on show in the Upper School Hall. We marked Remembrance Day yesterday with a silence at school and spoke about why we remember this day and the many men and women who gave their lives in fighting for the freedoms we enjoy today.  It is not too late for parents to donate online to the Poppy Appeal via the St. Helen's College JustGiving website if you would like to do so. The fundraising page can be accessed here. Children in Need Next Friday, 19th November, is Children in Need and as usual we will be supporting this very worthy charity. Children may come into school wearing Children in Need items or their own clothes, which could use the Children in Need themes of yellow or spots. You can purchase Pudsey or Blush ears and other Children in Need items at the online Children in Need shop here. We ask that parents make a donation to Children in Need so that children may wear their own clothes on Friday 19th November. You can do this via our JustGiving page here. We will also have wristbands available for sale at school, priced at £1 each and there will also, as usual, be a raffle at all three sites with tickets on sale for £1 each. Prizes will be Blush and Pudsey bears. Please allow your child to bring some money into school next week if they would like to buy wristbands and/or raffle tickets. Our charity reps have also promoted a Pudsey competition for pupils in Years 2-6, challenging children to create a Pudsey bear using whatever medium they would like and being as creative as possible. These imagined Pudseys do not have to be yellow! Winners will be announced next week and the competition also costs £1 to enter, which will be donated to Children in Need. We hope you will support your children with their creative ideas for their Pudsey. We thank you, as always, for your generous support. PA Forum Meeting The next PA Forum meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday 16th November. Thank you to parents who have sent in suggestions for discussion points. Minutes will be circulated to all parents following the meeting.

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