Beginning of Term News - Friday 2nd September 2022

Posted on: 02/09/2022

We are delighted to extend a warm welcome to a new academic year, both to those returning to us and to the many new pupils and families embarking on their St. Helen's College journey. We look forward to a busy and exciting year of learning, love, fun, enrichment and mutually supportive relationships.

It has been a busy summer at school. Our Holiday Club and Summer School were well attended and enjoyed by many pupils and much work has taken place at school to improve the environment.

In addition to our new pupils, we welcome the following new staff at the start of term:

Mrs. Webb - Netball Coach
Mrs. Gallacher - EYFS Assistant (Reception)
Mrs. Sonigra - EYFS Assistant (Ducklings)
Miss Hilliard - EYFS Assistant (Nursery)
Mrs. Cosgrove - SMSA (Reception)
Miss Kharoti - Funtasia/Holiday Club

New House System

We are delighted to announce that we will be extending our House System this year and have created two additional houses, 'Caledonia' and 'Hibernia'. Children from Nursery to Year 6 will draw their new houses next week and the house system will be enriched by many activities including regular 'House Assemblies' throughout the school year. We are looking forward to raising the house spirit both in school and at home! Our House Leaders this year will be:

Cambria - Mrs. Hunt
Windsor - Mr. Harrington
Caledonia - Mr. Lewis
Hibernia - Mr. McLaughlin

London Mini-Marathon - 1st October

All pupils from Reception to Year 6 will this year be able to take part in the NEW TCS Mini London Marathon, taking place in Westminster on Saturday 1st October.

This is a one mile event for children the day before the world-famous TCS London Marathon. It’s a chance for your children to run, jog, walk or wheel by Buckingham Palace and cross the very same finish line as the world’s best athletes. Every child who finishes will receive a special TCS Mini London Marathon medal and our school will receive £10 per finisher to spend on PE or IT equipment too.

We will be promoting this event to children in school and sending further details about how to sign up... so please save the date now and watch this space.

Important Dates/Information

Please check the School Calendar here and make a note of relevant dates for your child(ren) for the term.

There is a lot of useful information, including lunch menus, term dates, uniform and equipment lists, on the School Documents page of the website.

Healthy Snacks

We would like to remind parents that each child should bring a named, refillable water bottle and a named snack for break time each day. We are a healthy eating school and there are several children with severe allergies throughout the school. Suitable snacks are fruit and vegetables, sliced appropriately. Please DO NOT send any products containing nuts or other allergens. Please remember that chocolate, sweets, crisps or other sugar-filled snacks are not permitted. We are also an eco-friendly school and therefore urge parents to put snacks in a named, reusable container and to avoid sending packaging into school if possible.

Asthma Reminder

If your child has asthma and uses a preventative inhaler (Beige/ Brown/Orange/Red/ Purple/Pink) please make sure it is being taken regularly EVERY DAY even if your child is well as we are heading towards the most troublesome time of year for children with asthma.

Uniform and Equipment

Please ensure that every item of your child's uniform and equipment is clearly labelled with their name. We make every effort to remind the children in school to keep their belongings with them, but inevitably there is some lost property and it is almost impossible to reunite children with lost items that are unnamed. Unnamed, unclaimed items will be disposed of by the school at the end of each half term.

Welfare News

The autumn term welfare newsletter is available here.