School News and Head's Blog

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Posted on: 5/09/2025

Weekly News - Friday 5th September 2025

It has been wonderful to welcome back all of the children to school this week and get to know our new joiners who are settling in well already. Staff have been busy in school over the summer working hard to prepare for what promises to be a very exciting and rewarding year ahead. On Thursday our new Head Ms. Green led a welcome assembly at Upper School where she used an old and a new pair of trainers as a fun and thoughtful metaphor for change as the children adapt to their new classrooms and embrace fresh opportunities and challenges this year. Everyone here at St. Helen's College will certainly be putting their best foot forward this term and supporting one another to reach success.      Meet The Teacher Events Thank you to all of the parents who attended the Meet The Teacher meetings at Upper School and the individual Early Years parent meetings at Lower School this week. Year 2 parents will have the opportunity to Meet The Teachers on Tuesday 16th September at 8.15 a.m. We encourage and highly value regular and open communication between home and school as this is critical for us to deliver the best care for your child and to support their progress. Your child's class teacher should be the first port of call for any queries or concerns regarding your child, either by email or at the end of the school day. If your class teacher is unable to assist for some reason, please feel free to contact a member of the Senior Leadership Team directly on the email addresses below: Pre-School and Lower School queries: Ms. Matthews, Head of Pre-Prep, at jomatthews@sthelenscollege.com Upper School pastoral and safeguarding queries: Mrs. Gilbert, Deputy Head - Pastoral, at mgilbert@sthelenscollege.com Upper School academic teaching and learning queries: Mr. Roche, Deputy Head - Academic, at sroche@sthelenscollege.com   Pre-School Opens Year Round Provision This week our popular pre-school Nursery, home to our Cygnets ( aged 3+) and Ducklings (2+), re-opened with new extended hours and a year round provision, offering a fully flexible setting to accommodate the needs of busy working parents. Opening hours are 8.00 a.m - 6.00 p.m. and parents can book morning, afternoon or all day sessions for their child. The pre-school continues to be staffed by our well loved team of skilled early years practitioners who provide the very best nurturing care and educational development. At Lower School there is now a separate entrance for Nursery to streamline arrival and collection at the end of the day. We warmly welcome our new Ducklings, Cygnets and their families to St. Helen's College where they are already settling in very well.  Playground Equipment Our maintenance team have been very busy over the summer break updating facilities and supervising the extremely exciting installation of two large pieces of new playground equipment at Upper School. The two bespoke natural wood climbing frames have been carefully designed by Touchwood to stimulate learning and development through play and, of course, to provide the children with lots of fun! To begin with, as they get used to it, the children will be exploring the equipment safely in small groups at breaktimes and so far are thoroughly enjoying the experience!       LAMDA Results We are delighted to share fabulous results from the LAMDA examinations last term. Massive congratulations to all of the pupils whose hard work and commitment was clearly recognised by the examiner, who also commented on the professional manner with which the children conducted themselves. The results are as follows: Zoe F Acting Grade 5 - Solo Merit Ari P Acting Grade 1 - Duo Distinction Aayan B Acting Grade 1 - Duo Merit Aarav L Acting Grade 1 - Combined Merit Kyan K Acting Grade 1 - Combined Merit Elisa K Acting Grade 2 - Solo Distinction Aryan S Acting Grade 2 - Solo Merit Aadhya M Acting Grade 3 - Solo Distinction Kiran S Acting Grade 1 - Solo Distinction Sienna K Acting Grade 2 - Solo Merit Shanaiya K Acting Grade 5 - Solo Distinction Aydin K Musical Theatre Grade 1 - Solo Distinction Aria R Acting Entry Level - Duo Distinction Raya R Acting Entry Level - Duo Distinction Nirvaana SF Acting Entry Level - Solo Distinction Harleen S Acting Grade 1 - Combined Distinction Tanavya B Acting Grade 1 - Combined Distinction Eleanor G Acting Grade 4 - Solo Distinction Ivvan M Acting Grade 2 - Solo Distinction Mustafa F Acting Grade 3 - Solo Distinction Anika C Acting Grade 6 - Solo - Bronze Medal Merit Anika S Acting Grade 2 - Solo Distinction Naiya L Acting Grade 4 - Solo Distinction Sara B Acting Entry Level - Solo Distinction Alana K Acting Entry Level - Duo Distinction Sophie B Acting Entry Level - Duo Distinction Sehej G Acting Entry Level - Solo Distinction Harsimar G Acting Entry Level - Solo Distinction Eisah KH Speaking Verse and Prose Entry Level Distinction Sahara D Speaking Verse and Prose Entry Level Distinction   Spanish Competition Well done to all of the children who took part in the St. Helen's College Languagenut Spanish competition over the summer holidays. Huge congratulations to the top three pupils on the leadersboard: 1st place - Rayan R in 5G (119,500 points) 2nd place - Aarya G in 2S (61,100 points) 3rd place - Ali AR in 3B (59,100 points) They all received certificates and were awarded House points for their hard work.  School Open Morning Our next 'School At Work' Open Morning for prospective new families is on Wednesday 24th September. If you know of anyone with a child who might be interested in visiting the school, please do let them know.  We will also be hosting Reception Discovery Mornings on Thursday 2nd October and Thursday 16th October for children eligible for Reception entry in 2026. These are for external applicants only and are an opportunity for the child and their parents to meet staff and explore our Reception setting. Prospective families can book appointments for Open Morning and Reception Discovery Mornings via the school website here.   Staff News We are delighted to welcome new members of staff to St. Helen's College this year and remind parents of new roles for existing members of the team: Ms. Matthews - Head of Pre-Prep Mr. Roche - Deputy Head - Academic Mrs. Gilbert - Deputy Head - Pastoral Mrs. Coyle - Nursery Manager Mrs. Porter - Year 3 Form Teacher Mrs. Moore - Performing Arts and Drama Lead Mrs. Ruano - Early Years Practitioner PA Welcome Event  The Parents' Association very much hope that all new families will come along to their Welcome Event on Saturday 6th September from 2 - 4 p.m. The event will take place in the hall at Lower School and is a lovely opportunity to meet the PA and other new families. Autumn Co-curricular Clubs Booking for autumn term co-curricular clubs will go live on SchoolsBuddy today at 4 p.m. There are plenty of fun and exciting clubs for the children to get involved with, from sports and games to art, music and languages. The timetable can be found here. Please log into SchoolsBuddy for more information and to make your selection by Sunday night, when bookings will close. For any specific queries please contact Mr. Harrington at lharrington@sthelenscollege.com. Upper School Swimming As usual, each class in Years 2 to 6 will enjoy an intensive week of swimming lessons this year at Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex. Here are the dates for your diary: w/c 29th September - 4C w/c 6th October - 4T w/c 10th November - 3P w/c 24th November - 3M w/c 26th January - 5G w/c 2nd February - 5R w/c 2nd March - 6G w/c 9th March - 6R Year 2 will take part in swimming lessons in the summer term, the dates will follow in due course. Chiswick Book Festival The Chiswick Book Festival 2025 is running from 10th - 15th September and has a fantastic children’s programme for ages 3 to 11+. Our librarian Mrs Emanuel will be helping out as usual and enjoying a wonderful array of award-winning authors. For older children there is an event with JP Rose and her book Birdie, a heartfelt tale about the love of pit ponies and families - one of the new books available to read in the library this term! Exciting interactive sessions include a comic book masterclass with Kev F Sutherland and improvised poetry with Jonathan Sellars. Multi-talented local author Mariesa Dulak is treating us to two beautiful stories The Silver Shadow and There’s a Tiger on the Train - another new read in the school library. Tickets are available to book here.  Pupil Absence Please be reminded that requests for any absences in advance e.g. school visits must be sent directly to Ms. Green at sgreen@sthelenscollege.com. However, to report illness or medical appointments please continue to contact Mrs. Fazlian in the welfare office, at lfazlian@sthelenscollege.com by no later than 8.30 a.m.   School Calendar Please note: the school calendar is now hosted on Outlook and can be accessed via the school website here.   

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