School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 20/09/2019The Future By Josh Valman
Last week I had the pleasure of returning to St. Helen’s College, to speak at the annual Prizegiving, 13 years after I left my class of Year 6.
I’ve returned to the school several times during the new Year 7s’ time at St. Helen’s, introducing conversation around robotics, engineering and entrepreneurship. I felt it was timely to talk about the potential they all have to shape lives and careers that have true impact on the world.
When I left St. Helen’s College, not that long ago, technology was still new. Touch typing was an exclusive skill, and a mobile phone was yet to become the constant interface for life. In the last 10-15 years we have seen technology dominate our lives, as it makes everything easier and quicker. However, this incredible development has had vast impact to both us and our planet. Our decisions are driven by ease, and the impact of those decisions are largely overlooked. We have created a society and a way of life that has enormous consequence on the world’s resources, our environment and even our own health.
We are at a point where change is necessary, but we are limited by the fact that humans are creatures of habit. We are unlikely to see massive change in developed generations – purely from new awareness of our impact. Previously our behaviours were influenced by those around us, our parents, schools, peers and government. But in this new world of technology, it’s the machines that define us. Our phones (even as a Year 7!) are the things we wake up to, and go to sleep next to. Our behaviours are shaped by the products that enable our lives.
It’s for this reason that the future of the world is very much in the hands of the engineer: the problem solver, the creative thinker. It is our responsibility, as the younger generation, to create the future of our world, and how we all behave around it. It will be the engineers who create the products and experiences that change human behaviour to become more sustainable.
I began my engineering career aged 10, whilst at St. Helen’s College. Fascinated by the BBC TV show, Robot Wars, I set out to design and build something competitive, beginning with Lego and Sellotape, until I learnt the Maths and the CAD design skills to create something more advanced.
It’s essential that parents and schools support young people with the ability to match education with reality. The intensity of exam schedules and the sheer volume of curriculum that needs to be consumed can make additional work feel oppressive and unnecessary. However, bringing practical application of subjects into the classroom has a huge impact on engagement and the ability to understand and visualise theory. We can provide examples of how the current curriculum applies to the real world through embracing extra-curricular clubs and competitions.
In the time I have spent working in industry, it’s perhaps surprising to note that a technical problem is incredibly rare. The majority of work problems and restrictions in the real world have been focussed on people, process and communication. Promoting stronger presentation, negotiation and communication skills through practical teaching at schools has a massive impact on students’ ability to succeed in the real world – with or without that A* in maths or extensive knowledge of the Battle of Hastings!
It’s been important also to note the importance of enjoying the work you do. Nobody really knows what they’re doing, but those who are most successful are those who are passionate about their life and have made it a career. The pressure to select a career and pursue it is intense, but helping children to explore interesting subjects with a link to potential careers is possible and exciting! The standout trends of our most successful young team members and graduates is always their exposure to varied work experience, cultures, challenges – and not the nth percentile academic results.
In 2012 we founded RPD International, with the purpose of making the development and manufacturing of new products accessible. We now power R&D departments around the world for many new, big brand products in the market. We craft everything from sustainability developments in shampoo and deodorant packaging, to medical devices that improve the accessibility and power of modern medicine, and every strange new invention between these. It’s our role in the world to empower people to create the next generation of products which will change the way we work, behave and live our lives.
I need the help of you as parents and influencers to encourage play and practical learning as part of schooling, creating exposure to the real world and making it known that we’re all still working it out! It was my mission, in the conversation with the graduating pupils of 2019, to urge them to consider this the first step on an engineering career. To see through the maths lessons, and see that we all need their help to invent, develop and produce a positive future for our world.
Josh Valman is CEO of RPD International. He attended St. Helen’s College from 1999 to 2006.
Posted on: 20/09/2019Weekly News - Friday 20th September 2019
Prime Minister Boris Johnson Reads To Year 1
We were thrilled today to receive a visit from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is working with the BookTrust children's charity to promote children's reading - a cause dear to St. Helen's College! This month the BookTrust charity have launched their 'Time To Read' campaign, which encourages families to share books and stories each day and to use books as a way to explore issues that impact on wellbeing, such as anxiety or friendship issues.
St. Helen's College parents know already that, as a school, we promote reading daily with your child and believe that this underpins all learning. We were therefore delighted to be approached by the Prime Minister's office to arrange a visit for Mr. Johnson to read to our Year 1 children. The children were enthralled today as he read them The Cave by Rob Hodgson, which showed that things aren't always what they seem, and that life can be full of surprises!
Mr. Johnson also visited Upper School and was hugely impressed by the STEAM Day activities going on all around (see below for more details!). It is a testament to the ethos and success of St. Helen's College and its pupils that, having visited last year, Mr. Johnson chose to come back and see our children again!
STEAM Day
It has been a busy, purposeful and exciting day of learning across the entire school from Ducklings to Year 6 today as children have taken part in a wide range of STEAM Day activities. At Upper School, pupils took part in practical and academic indoor and outdoor activities run by staff and parents, including building cardboard kayaks, cracking a code using maths, making marble mazes and investigating endothermic and exothermic reactions. One of the sessions was run by Susan O'Connor, the author of 'Creative Genius Journal'. The children worked in groups to design, create and make playground equipment, challenging their collaboration and communication skills. We would highly recommend that parents take a look at her journal for 7-12 year olds:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Genius-Journal-resilient-differently/dp/1916497918/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=creative+genius+journal&qid=1568964942&sr=8-2
At Lower School, the children became engrossed in Lego mazes, making kaleidoscopes and investigating how colours mix. They used their technological skills to take part in some digital animation and became apprentice engineers when building spaghetti towers. They used our outside space to make bookmarks from the natural resources around us and blasted rocket mice into the beautiful blue sky! Our youngest Helenians, the Ducklings, also took part in some age-appropriate STEAM activities. The children helped to measure water into three different water pits and then got into small groups. Using lots of colourful bath bombs, the children got to explore how putting them into water can make them change and how our senses reacted! The children spoke about the sounds that the bath bombs made in water such as "POP! "Fuzzzzzzz" and "Whoosh", adding that they smelt "fruity", "sweet" and some even thought they smelt "yummy". The children also explored how, when the differently coloured waters were mixed together, the colour of the water changed and some even got brighter! Ducklings finished off celebrating their STEAM Day with dropping some mints into a bottle of pop and watch it go up, just like a volcano!
This really was, across the school, an inspirational day that children and staff will never forget! You can see photographs on our Galleries page.
Loving their Learning
The dining room and playground have been a cacophony of educational chatter this week - it has been super to hear the children discussing the number of syllables within the lines of their nature Haiku poems (Y3), how the Romans came to seize England and why (Y3), Verbal Reasoning was the best lesson for one child this week because he loves playing with words (Y4), Year 5 pupils enjoyed their water challenge as they worked collaboratively to design and make their water pipe systems discussing the many elements which had to work together for the most efficient delivery of water; Year 6 discussing how to spot 'Fake News'. How rewarding for the teachers to know that our pupils' learning does not just stop in the classroom - the love of learning which is being embedded exudes from them through their day and I am sure is then shared with you all at home too!
Community and London Ambassadors
We are delighted that St. Helen's College is being recognised in the local community as one of the leading schools in addressing the environmental issue of traffic and pollution surrounding schools. You can read a little about this here. We were also delighted to hear this week that we have been nominated for a London wide award as one of the top London Schools for our hard work around school travel and road safety. We have been nominated for two categories:
School of excellence in walking - for our brilliant walking loyalty scheme
School of excellence in road safety/pupil led project - for our hard work with the Junior Roadwatch project
We have also been nominated for the category of 'Long Serving Travel Champion' for all our hard work over the 9 years that St. Helen's College has been championing this.
Student Council
The Student Council in Upper School have had a great start to the term. In their first meeting they discussed general council etiquette and electing the secretary and spokesperson. The first item for discussion for all the classes was whether they would like to see the introduction of flavoured water available at break times. There was a resounding majority vote for this and this will be rolled out to the children at Upper School early October. The pupils will now need to vote on the flavours they would favour: strawberry, cucumber, lemon, orange...? We look forward to hearing their suggestions and I am sure that Soula will be able to source a variety of healthy options.
For pupils who prefer milk there will still be some available.
The Zen Garden was also an area which was discussed and the pupils are very strong in their passion for only using this area for quiet and peaceful moments which they will ensure will continue to happen.
The pupils were then reminded of some of the suggestions they have made over the past couple of years which have been acted upon: new cutlery and cups for the dining room, no onion in the macaroni, the addition of the The Retreat and the Castle (partly funded by the school and the PA) and table top games for the playground...to name but a few.
We look forward to a superb year of pupil voice.
Meet the Teacher Evenings
Thank you to all of the parents who have recently attended our Meet the Teacher evenings. It has been encouraging to have such a great attendance at these evenings, demonstrating the parental support which will no doubt help your children to achieve their very best this year. Please contact your form teachers if you have any further queries or questions.
New Parents' Lunch
The PA committee and new families to St. Helen's College had a wonderful afternoon socialising in the Windsor Garden last Saturday, getting to know each other and finding out more about the work of the PA. Thank you to all who attended and the PA for providing the lovely food and refreshments. If you are interested in supporting the work of the PA or becoming the class form representative please contact Mrs. Clements at info@sthelenscollege.com.
Individual Pupil Photographs
Monday 23rd - Ducklings will have their individual photos from 8.30 a.m.
Wednesday 25th Lower School - siblings can be photographed together from 8 a.m.
Friday 27th Upper School - siblings can be photographed together from 7.40 a.m.
Personal Belongings
Pupils should not be bringing in football/Disney or similar collector cards to school. Unfortunately they have caused upset in the playground and in classes! Fitbits should also not be worn to school; however, a watch is acceptable.
Posted on: 13/09/2019An Education of Value - Head's Blog
I have been observing our children over the last 8 days since the beginning of term - I am overwhelmed with how they have embraced the new changes and experiences.
The virtues which children develop over time are underpinned by the values which are held by the families, the community and school. This week in assembly the Upper School pupils discussed Aristotle, one of the great teachers and philosophers of Ancient Greece, who was interested in thinking about how humans can live a good life.
It is by thinking about this question, discussing the question and by the adults surrounding the children modelling virtuous behaviours that our pupils will grow into confident, articulate, creative, caring and resilient young adults.
Last night we welcomed one of our alumni, Josh Valman, to our annual Prizegiving as our Guest of Honour. Josh attended St. Helen’s from 1999 to 2006 and continued his education at Vyners School. Josh is now a world leader in rapid innovation and manufacturing. He is the founder and CEO of RPD International, a business powering corporate Research and Development departments around the world.
Josh’s passion for engineering has driven his success but he is very aware that it is often very difficult to find the right staff to develop his products - saying that often the most technically brilliant engineers are not the ideal employee for his creative business. Instead Josh looks for attributes such as resilience, good interpersonal skills, empathy, collaboration, co-operation - people who really care about what they are doing, want to make a difference, enjoy their work and feel fulfilled by what they are doing.
As Josh spoke to the children last night I could see the Year 7 pupils who have just started at their new secondary school sit up and take notice, nodding in agreement with him, who knows...perhaps in a few years time another one of our Old Helenians may be a member of RPD international! (I hope to have Josh blog as a guest next week!)
Our old Year 6 pupils have certainly made a good impact at their new senior schools - it was heartwarming to speak with several parents last night who were so grateful for the amazing foundations that have been put in place for their children’s future through the ethos, the staff, the curriculum and the community of St. Helen’s College.
We will continue to promote our school values hand in hand with you as parents to enable your children to lead a good life.
CARING HELPFULNESS COOPERATION KINDNESS PERSEVERANCE COURAGE FAIRNESS FRIENDLINESS
PATIENCE RESPECT COURTESY FORGIVENESS
DETERMINATION SELF-DISCIPLINE GRATITUDE HONESTY
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 13/09/2019Weekly News - Friday 13th September 2019
PA Welcome Event For New Families
The PA and staff look forward to welcoming all of our new families (including children!) to their Welcome Event which will take place in the Evans Hall and Windsor Garden from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Meet The Teacher Evening - Year 4 and Year 5
We are looking forward to seeing our Year 4 and Year 5 parents on Tuesday evening for the Meet The Teacher evening. Drinks will be served from 6.45 p.m. in the Windsor Garden and then the classes will split into the Evans Hall and the Upper School Hall.
Year 4 Pupils Discover Ancient Greece!
The Year 4 children have begun their history topic on the Ancient Greeks in style on Tuesday. They were treated to a full day of fun, immersing themselves in the Ancient Greek way of life through an interactive show in the morning and two follow up workshops in the afternoon. The show saw the children become assistants to a trainee time traveller who went back in time for her 53rd attempt at passing her final trainee mission. The trainee found herself at the house of Jocasta, an Athenian housewife. As part of the mission the children learnt about many aspects of Ancient Greece from Jocasta, including the gods, the Olympics, Greek architecture, democracy and the role of women.
The workshops further developed the children's historical knowledge. In the first, the children had to think about the legacy of the Greeks in order to help the time travellers set up a new history TV programme. In the second workshop, Jocasta set up a scene in her courtyard depicting life in the household, with the children taking on the various roles. Then the children re-enacted her wedding.
It was a busy day, and thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part. You can see photographs on our Galleries page.
uTalk Language Challenge
This year, Upper School children will be participating in the uTalk Language Challenge as usual. In a change to past year's routines, the competition final will be within this academic year, which means that Year 6 children may enter, so the competition is open to all children in Years 2-6.
Registration costs only £5 per child and gives each participant access to 12 topics on the uTalk app for the rest of the school year (2019/20). Every child will be provided with a unique username and password which they can use to login to the uTalk app as well as view their scores, progress and achievements in their very own online dashboard. Teachers will also get access to the same 12 topics as the children.
This year there will not be a national final. Instead, children will take part in regional finals. Round One, Spanish, will start in September and run until 10 a.m. on Friday December 20th 2019. Children can start scoring points as soon as they have downloaded the app and logged in using the username and password with which they will be supplied.
Pupils who score 500 points (out of a possible 3,960) will go through to Round Two, which will run from 10 a.m. on Monday 6th January 2020 until 10 a.m. on Friday 27th March 2020. Children will be learning the same 12 topics in French with the 30 highest scorers in each region going through to their regional final where they will compete against the clock and each other to be named uTalk JLC Champion for that region. In the event of more than 30 children in each region achieving full marks, extra French topics will be unlocked for them to learn to help select the top 30.
If you are interested in registering your child, please email Mrs. Stark at tstark@sthelenscollege.com as soon as possible.
Engineering The Future
Many of our pupils and parents were inspired by the speech given by our Guest of Honour, Josh Valman, at last night's Prizegiving. Josh is an Old Helenian, now in his early twenties, who has built a multi-million dollar engineering business. His company, RPD International, helps major multi-national companies as well as smaller entrepreneurs bring products to market more quickly. We were extremely lucky to hear from him last night about why engineers are crucial to our planet's future. For any budding young engineers or families interested in following this up with further exploration and education, we would recommend looking at the forthcoming events, talks and family workshops at the Royal Institute:
http://view.email.rigb.org.uk/?qs=b5897f9c648de160f4fe37200bb85a7d9ebf5a6b2391c30a70657ed2f8485bd0d99d862c930366524733171f50a74314a98b104cf72e3663eef9a47d1ba6b4df7d3bfa3adc716c815f66db5a7597a57e
STEAM Day
We are very much looking forward to our exciting STEAM Day which will take place on Friday 20th September. Thank you in advance to all those parents and staff who have already volunteered to run workshops or assist on the day. It will be a wonderful day of community collaboration and creativity.
Co-Curricular Clubs
Thank you to parents for selecting your child's co-curricular preferences via SchoolsBuddy. Allocations have now been made and you will need to follow the instructions in your allocation email and make payment promptly to secure your club places. Clubs begin from Monday (16th September).
We still have a few places on the following clubs, which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis now. Please email Miss Walker at swalker@sthelenscollege.com if your child would like to join one of these clubs:
Art Y1
Yoga Y1
Taekwondo Y2/3
Taekwondo Y4/5/6 â
Hockey Y4/5/6
Printing Y4/5/6
Football Y5
Coding Y5/6
We look forward to another enriching and exciting term of co-curricular activities.
Posted on: 6/09/2019Welcome Back! - Head's Blog
Welcome back to all of our returning families and to our new families who have joined our wonderful community: welcome!
I am sure that you have all had a super summer. I have had an incredible summer, relaxing, resting and socialising with family and friends but there is only so much of this ‘non-routine’ that I can take! I admit, I was so ready to come back to school to be energised by the buzz of enquiring minds and the energy of our pupils, staff and parents.
I am sure that you will agree that the children have embraced the new school year across the school. From our fledgling Ducklings to our new Year 6 pupils, there is an almost tangible sense of joie de vivre.
As the children settle into their new routines, I have observed and overheard them discussing the ‘Golden Rules’ of working together as a community, writing and signing classroom pledges and agreeing how they can be their best selves. Our informal school motto:
‘Strive for excellence
Help others achieve
Care for each other’
resonates around the school, along with our ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ behaviour mantra. Your children are amazing and I feel truly blessed to witness their awe and wonder each and every day.
As your children embark upon their new academic year, I would like to share with you all extracts from an article I recently read in Attain magazine to help you all settle into the school year. I have slightly altered the order but strongly recommend that you read the full article to give greater context!
10 Golden Rules for Parents
Do read a bedtime story to your child every night (or hear them read every night as they move up through the school).
Do teach your child to be independent.
Do play games with your child (as often as possible) and teach them how to lose gracefully; this will also spark their creativity and help their concentration.
Do read everything the school sends to you.
Do be proud of everything your child brings home and wow at it no matter how huge, hideous, or unrecognisable it may be.
Do not compete with other parents about who has the most accomplished child.
Do not take your child out of school early at the end of term or return late at the beginning of term.
Do respect and believe what the teachers say about your child, and communicate with your form teacher if you have any concerns (it is teamwork that will bring out the best in your children).
Do set a good example in phone etiquette.
Don't feel the need to invite everyone to your child's birthday party (this may be difficult in Lower School but gets increasingly easier as the children get older!)
The full article may be read here https://digital.attain.education/.
We look forward to yet another successful and joyful academic year with your children at the centre of our focus!
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 6/09/2019Weekly News - Friday 6th September 2019
St. Helen's College Gains Gold Travel Award
We are thrilled that, having reviewed our School Travel and Road Safety (STARS) Accreditation, Transport for London (TfL) have awarded St. Helen's College a Gold STARS award this year!
To achieve Gold, St. Helen's College had to be judged to be among the top 10% of London schools, setting high standards to inspire others to transform travel habits, fully engaging the wider community to promote best practices and proving a measurable reduction in the number of journeys made by car every day.
The school had to provide evidence that, within three academic years, we had completed 25 different travel activities, 15 supporting activities and 8 consultation activities. We also had to demonstrate at least a 6% modal shift away from the car or at least 90% of pupils travelling actively to/from school.
This accolade recognises all of the hard work being done at school and in the community, led by our pupil Mini and Junior Road Safety Officers and our staff School Travel Champions, to improve sustainable travel and road safety in and around our school. The school's 'drop and go' schemes, bike/scooter parks, pedestrian and Bikeability courses, Walk on Wednesday initiative and walking loyalty scheme, as well as the Parent Parking Pledge and our 'Speed Aware' scheme run in partnership with local police, are all initiatives driven by the school community which are helping to reduce traffic and promote road safety in our local area. This really is a partnership between staff, parents, pupils and the wider community and we are grateful to everyone involved. As a community, we should feel very proud of this award recognising all that we are doing to improve our local environment for all.
School Games Platinum Award
We are absolutely delighted to announce that St. Helen's College has achieved the School Games PLATINUM Mark Award for the 2018/19 and 2019/2020 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme, launched in 2012 and facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, which rewards schools for their commitment to the development of participation in physical activity and competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success in providing opportunities for competitive and non-competitive sport and young leadership.
We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible. As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded with this award. We look forward to applying once again in 2020!
Relay for Life 2019
Thank you so much to all parents, pupils and staff who supported the Cancer Research Relay for Life this year, donating, participating in fundraising activities and joining the St. Helen's College team for the Relay itself. Our team raised an amazing £4,025.81 in total, which was the second highest total raised by a team. We are very proud of our ongoing commitment to this event and to raising money for Cancer Research.
Charity Walk
On Sunday 1st September, Mrs. Cheema (mother of Amar and Suraj, Old Helenians who left us in 2019 and 2016) organised a 12 hour long charity walk at Hillingdon Stadium to raise awareness of bile duct cancer and to raise much needed funds for the charity AMMF, which is the UK's only charity for Cholangiocarcinoma.
Over 150 people participated throughout the day, many of whom were St. Helen's College families and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended or donated to the charity. You can read Mrs. Cheema's inspiring blog at
https://mybeautifullife.org/2019/09/03/walkathon-best-day-ever/
Celebrating Success
So many of our pupils achieve great things both inside and outside of school. We have numerous pupils who are selected for high calibre sports teams, including cricket, football, chess and athletics, and our musicians share their talents in many areas too. Aarna (Year 6) recently played at the prestigious Cadogan Hall with the Hillingdon Music Hub and Catherine (Year 6) plays flute with the National Children’s Orchestra (NCO) and has now been awarded a place to study music every Saturday at the Royal College of Music. Please do continue to share your children's successes with us as it is important that we are aware of their all round achievements.
Prizegiving 2019
We look forward to seeing our Year 6 leavers next week and many current families at our annual Prizegiving at the Winston Churchill Hall in Ruislip on Thursday evening.
Summer Schools 2019
Once again this year we ran two extremely successful Summer School weeks in August (in addition to our Holiday Club which ran throughout the summer holidays and was very well attended).
At Lower School Summer School, the theme was Around The World. The activities focussed on different parts of the world, with a different country being 'visited' each day. Children took part in a variety of arts & crafts activities and indoor and outdoor play, all linking to this geographical theme.
At Upper School Summer School, held at Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre, the children took part in a 'Pirates and Bucanneers' themed week, enjoying sailing, kayaking, dragon boating and other water activities, which often culminated in the children jumping joyfully into the lake! They also took part in land activities, including climbing and abseiling, the commando challenge, pedal karting and pond dipping, all using the wonderful facilities available at HOAC.
You can see photographs of the children enjoying themselves on the Galleries page.
PA Welcome Event For New Parents
The PA Welcome Event for parents who are new to the school will take place next Saturday, 14th September, from 12 to 2 p.m. in The Evans Hall. We hope to see all our new families there!
STEAM Day - Friday 20th September
Preparations are well underway for our exciting STEAM Day on Friday 20th September. Thank you to all staff and parents who have offered to run or assist with the workshops. If there are any Upper School parents who would still like to assist, please email Mr. Tovell at dtovell@sthelenscollege.com.
School at Work Open Morning - Wednesday 16th October
Our next School at Work Open Morning will take place on Wednesday 16th October, when we will be welcoming groups of prospective parents to look around the school. In the past, existing parents have been very helpful in displaying posters to promote Open Morning in places of business, homes or cars, and in passing on flyers to any interested friends, relatives or neighbours. We are sending home a couple of flyers/posters for each family today in the hope that you will help to promote this event for us once again. We thank you in advance for your help and please do let us know if you can make use of any more posters or leaflets.
School Magazine - 2018-2019
We hope that you all enjoyed reading the new annual school magazine which was sent home to each family on the last day of the summer term. If your child was absent on the last day of term and you have not yet received your copy, it should have been sent home with them this week.
If any parent would like to purchase extra copies of the magazine, it is possible to do this at a cost of £12 per copy. Please pop in to see Mrs. Rooney at Lower School or Mrs. Smith at Upper School as soon as possible if you would like to buy a copy. Payment for these should be made in cash.
Posted on: 12/07/2019End of Year Wishes - Head's Blog
It is always a very poignant day when we end the academic year. It is a time to celebrate all the wonderful achievements of the children and to give thanks to all the parents and staff who support the children each and every day.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and relaxing summer and leave you with these words:
An Ode to Our Leavers – Shall I Compare Thee?
Shall I compare thee, Year 6, to the mighty oak tree?
You have grown through resilience, respect, determination.
You have absorbed - not water - but knowledge and values;
Rooted in love and harmony, the deepest foundation.
Your growth has been unique in so very many ways,
You branch out with qualities so rich to admire,
St. Helen’s College has hosted your formative days,
Too soon cometh, alas, the hour you must retire.
Please continue to grow tall and stretch your branches to the sky –
Spreading values and virtues outwards, reaching far, reaching high.
Posted on: 12/07/2019Weekly News - Friday 12th July 2019
Romeo and Juliet
What amazing performances our Year 6 children gave last week when they presented their grand musical performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at The Compass Theatre, Ickenham. Without exception, the pupils rose to the challenges of acting, dancing, inhabiting characters and delivering lots of dialogue with real sophistication, empathy and humour. We are very proud of them all and know that they will remember these performances for a lifetime.
You can see lots more photographs of the production on the Galleries page.
St. Helen's Day 2019
We enjoyed celebrating St. Helen's Day on Wednesday in many ways. Upper School pupils gathered in the Windsor Garden for an afternoon assembly, led by Mr. and Mrs. Crehan. Mrs. Crehan spoke to the children about why we celebrate this special day, and about the history of the school, before Mr. Crehan shared the story of St. Helen herself with the children. We finished by singing the St. Helen song and, finally, the school song, 'St. Helen's College For Evermore!'. Mrs. Crehan taught all of the Upper School children how to sing the harmony in the final chorus too!
In the evening, we held a drinks reception for our leaving Year 6 parents and parents who have contributed to the school as members of the PA committee or as class reps this year. We were also joined by staff, ex-staff and some of our alumni to celebrate all that makes our school such a unique and happy place.
Miss Dear has made a lovely montage entitled 'A Year In The Life of St. Helen's College', which you can see by following this link:
https://animoto.com/play/9kg8hg59p9ycuaxX3m0SJQ
Year 6 Projects
What an incredible array of independent projects by our Year 6 children were on display on Thursday morning. You can see photographs of some of the projects on our Galleries page.
Music Personality of the Term
Congratulations to Aarna A, who has been recognised for her outstanding effort, commitment, dedication and achievement within the music department by being awarded Music Personality of the Term.
Aarna has always worked conscientiously and demonstrated enormous enthusiasm over several years, in all aspects of music at St Helen’s College. She has excellent music skills and applies and shares creative ideas successfully in class work, as well as being an excellent role model within the music department.
She has been a regular member of the Junior and Senior Choirs and has recently become a member of the Chamber Choir. Aarna plays the recorder fluently and with an enriched tone, and plays with the Recorder Club. She has also been a loyal member of the school orchestra over the last two years.
Aarna has exceptional musical talent. She has recently achieved her Grade 5 theory exam and plays the flute to Grade 6 level. Her most recent achievement has been to play with a band of musicians from the Hillingdon Hub at London’s Cadogan Hall.
Very well done, Aarna!
Sports Personality of the Term
Many congratulations to Hebe E, who has been named the Sports Personality of the summer term.
Hebe has represented the school in many sports and always works hard to contribute to team success. She was a part of the athletics team who won bronze medals at District Sports and the tennis team who represented Hillingdon at the London Youth Games School Games finals this term. She regularly competes in regional competitions in the South of England and has achieved personal best times in four sprint events this season.
Hebe has also shown great resilience in dealing with injury this term and should be commended for her perseverance and determination. Well done, Hebe!
Minimus Mythology Competition 2019
Well done to all who took part in the Mythology Competition recently and in particular to Ridhima M, who won second prize nationally for her beautiful pop-up book representation of the story of King Midas! Ridhima was commended by the judges for her excellent use of colour and detail and for the sophisticated vocabulary used in her narrative. Congratulations also go to Uma D who, although not awarded a major prize, was commended for her use of music and lyrics in the original song she wrote and recorded for the competition.
Year 1 Trip to Mad Bess Woods (Mrs. Hunt's house!)
The weather was very kind to Year 1 on Thursday as they visited Mrs. Hunt's house and the surrounding woodland and carried out some scientific exploration in beautiful surroundings. This is always a highlight of the Year 1 programme and this year's trip did not disappoint!
Nursery End of Year Summer Party
Our Nursery children enjoyed an end of year summer party this week to celebrate the end of a very successful Nursery year! We look forward to welcoming them back in their blazers as they join Reception in September.
Sports News
The Championships Wimbledon
On Monday the Year 5 and 6 tennis team who won the Borough tennis competition and reached the London Youth Games finals earlier this term had a wonderful day at The Championships, Wimbledon. They toured the grounds, visited centre court and court No 1, sat on Henman Hill, watched some great tennis on Court No 2 and even sampled some strawberries and cream. Our keen tennis players thoroughly enjoyed themselves and developed their understanding and appreciation of tennis greatly, becoming experts who even got interviewed by Radio Wimbledon!
The Championships St. Helen's College!
On Tuesday the finals of the school tennis championships took place with pupils from Year 3 to Y6 taking part. The tennis was of a good standard and all the matches were close and very exciting to watch. Well done to everyone who reached the finals having played many matches to get their against their peers and many congratulations to our 2019 champions. There are photographs on the Galleries page.
The winners were:
Year 3
Winner: Luka K, Runner Up Rivan K
Winner Layla O, Runner Up Amber P
Year 4
Winner Samir H, Runner Up Arsal S
Winner Fredericka, Runner Up Amar C
Year 5
Winner Patrick E, Runner Up Daniel G-J
Winner Catherine L, Runner Up Krisha S
Year 6
Winner Rishi S-P, Runner Up Alex S
Winner Aaria K, Runner Up Tamara A
Cricket
Following the bad weather in June and the cancellation of the borough cricket competition this year, a friendly match was organised against Oak Farm School on Wednesday. The children have been inspired by the World Cup currently being played and showed some great play. Well done to all those involved: Adi S, Rishi S-P, Anish A, Keaton P, Daniel G-J, Sulaiman M, Arsal S, Aditya S, Vidhit N and Krishav P.
Staff v Pupils Annual Rounders Challenge
This year's Staff v. Pupils rounders event was keenly contested, with our Year 5 and 6 teams buoyant from their recent success in the district tournament. The staff team limbered up without injuring themselves and were then ready to take on the pupils. The staff team played the B team first and won 8.5 rounders to 4.5 rounders. However, with some impressive fielding and magnificent striking of the ball, the A team were able to turn the tables to beat the staff team 9.5 rounders to 4. This was the first time the pupils had won in several years, much to the delight of all the pupils watching and cheering on! The games were all played in a very good spirit and it was a fantastic way to finish the sporting year at school.
Pupil Leadership Team
Many thanks to our retiring Pupil Leadership Team, who have done an outstanding job over the year. We are delighted to announce the new Pupil Leadership Team who will be in post from September:
Head Girl - Catherine L
Head Boy - Anish A
Deputy Head Girl - Ridhima M
Deputy Head Boy - Ciaran R
STEAM Day 2019
We are delighted to announce that our annual STEAM Day, which focuses on being creative and collaborative learners, is to be held on Friday 20th September this year.
It really was a wonderful day last year, and one that which was made even better by the high levels of parental involvement. Therefore, we are asking once again for any volunteers who may wish to assist with an activity on the day, or, better still, run their own workshop for the day. Part of what makes St. Helen's College so special is the high levels of parental involvement, so please do offer to help if you can by emailing Mr. Tovell directly at dtovell@sthelenscollege.com (for Upper School) or Mrs. Hunt at lhunt@sthelenscollege.com (for Lower School).
Relay for Life
We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who has already donated to our fundraising efforts for Cancer Research Relay for Life, and to all those who have contributed to all the fundraising events in school.
The children particularly enjoyed soaking their teachers at both Upper and Lower School!
If anyone would still like to join our team or make a donation, you can do so by following this link. Our team name is St. Helen's College.
The St. Helen's College team will also be running a raffle at the Cancer Research Relay for Life and would appreciate any raffle prizes you or your company may be able to donate. Any prizes would be most welcome indeed and we are particularly hoping that we may be able to offer experiences, restaurant vouchers etc. as grand prizes! If you are able to donate something please email Mrs. McLaughlin directly at pmclaughlin@sthelenscollege.com.
Funtasia Lower School Party
The children attending Funtasia at Lower School on Tuesday had a party to say goodbye to the Year 1 children who will be moving across to Upper School to join Year 2 in September. Chef Soula kindly provided pizza and the children brought their own clothes and had LOTS of fun!
Staff Achievements
Congratulations to Mr. Bustard for completing his first year as a newly qualified teacher - It has been wonderful to have a homegrown teacher here at St. Helen's College.
Congratulations also to Mr. Dyson who has been working incredibly hard this year to achieve the Level 5 Certificate in Primary PE Leadership.
Message from the PA
The PA would like to wish the Year 6 leavers the best of luck in their transition to senior school. We are certain that they will thrive following the strong foundations set at St. Helen's. As a farewell, the PA provided bespoke hoodies for all the leavers and a cake to be enjoyed by all! We wish you all the best in your new adventures.
Summer Holiday Club
Bookings are still open for Holiday Club here at St. Helen's College over the summer holiday. You can book places using your SchoolsBuddy account. Further details are available here.
MultiSports Summer Camps
Wayfarers Tennis Club are hosting Multisports camps over the summer. If you are interested, you can find full details on their flyer here.
Basketball Summer Camp
Thames Valley Cavaliers are running a summer basketball camp at Uxbridge College from 29th July to 1st August. If you are interested in your child attending, you can find full details on their flyer here.
Uniform/Equipment List, Menu and Co-Curricular Bookings - Autumn Term 2019
Please note that the updated uniform/equipment list and lunch menu for next term have now been published to the School Documents page of the website. Please do take the opportunity over the summer to ensure that your child has all of the required uniform and equipment for the forthcoming academic year, and to look at the lunch menu with them. Bookings for Co-Curricular clubs for the Autumn term will open when we return to school in September and clubs will be bookable, as usual, via your SchoolsBuddy account.
Breakfast Club and After School Club Bookings - Autumn Term 2019
SchoolsBuddy has proved to be a very useful, efficient and user-friendly system for the booking of Breakfast Club and Holiday Club this year and so, from September, Funtasia After School Club bookings will also be made via your SchoolsBuddy account.
Please note that the pricing structure has been rationalised slightly for After School Club. For both Lower and Upper School, a half session (until 4.45 p.m.) will be charged at £7.50 and a full session (until 6 p.m.) will be charged at £11.00. There is also the option, at Upper School, to book your child in for a half session after they have attended a co-curricular club.
Please note that all sessions must be paid for at the point of booking and no refunds will be issued - so please think carefully before making bookings! You will be able to book your sessions via SchoolsBuddy right up until the time that the session begins. Please do NOT telephone the school office to ask office staff to book your children in as we will not have the facility to do this at school. We hope that parents will continue to find SchoolsBuddy easy to use but if you do experience any problems with using the system, please let us know.
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