News - Friday 10th November 2017

The school has had a day of reflection and gratitude, remembering those who gave their lives in conflict to ensure the safety and freedom which we so often take for granted today. We joined together for a silence at 11 o'clock to remember the fallen, and we have all been wearing our poppies with pride.

Oak Farm Librarian Visits Nursery

Earlier in the week, a librarian from the Oak Farm Library visited our Nursery classes to talk to the children about the many different books that they can borrow from the library. She explained how to look after books and talked to the children about how we should behave inside a library. The librarian sang songs and read two wonderful stories to Nursery, which are still being talked about by the children now!

Chamber Choir Recording

Our Chamber Choir made a recording yesterday as their entry for the national Barnado's competition, which the school enters each year. We have reached the final twice in recent years and are hoping to repeat this success! This year's pieces are the beautiful 'Can You Hear Me?' by Bob Chilcott and 'Thank You For The Music' by ABBA. Should we reach the final again, the Chamber Choir will be signing along to the 'Can You Hear Me?' piece. The finals, as usual, will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in March. We will find out in January if the Chamber Choir has made it through. Do wish us luck!

Girls' Football Tournament

Our girls' football team took part in the School Games District Schools football tournament held at Hillingdon Leisure Complex this week. Fourteen teams from our local area took part and the St. Helen's College team drew girls from Years 4, 5 and 6. Games were very short - lasting only 6 minutes - so our girls had to get off to a flying start and they did just that!

In their first match again Cowley St Laurence they won 3 - 0 and in their second match against St. Bernadette's they won 4 - 0. In their final match they faced Oak Farm in a very competitive match. The St. Helen's College team had lots of shots on goal, but it was Oak Farm who scored to win the game 1 - 0. Well done to all the girls who took part in the tournament: Ryeesa, Kyra, Hebe, Ionie, Aaria, Rhea A-V, Lily, Maya S and Abigail.

You can see a photo of the girls on the Galleries page.

Upper School Parents' Evening

Thank you to those parents who attended the Upper School parents' evenings this week. It was a pleasure to see so many of you and we hope that you found your consultations useful.

Children in Need Tog Day and Raffle

As usual, the school will be supporting Children in Need this year and hoping to raise some money for this most worthwhile of charities. The children of 6D are taking responsibility for running the fundraising for this event and have been making posters to display throughout the school.

Next Friday, 17th November, all children and staff are invited to wear 'spoctacular spots' and/or yellow clothes to school. There is a suggested donation of £2 per child for this tog day, but any donations will be most gratefully received.

There will Children in Need raffles running at all sites, with prizes as follows:

Upper/Middle School: 1 large Pudsey Bear and 1 small Blush Bear
Lower School: 1 large Pudsey Bear and 1 small Blush Bear
Ducklings: 2 small Blush Bears

There will be also be several runner up prizes including small bears, Pudsey/Blush ears and pens.

Tickets will be sold next week, from Monday 13th November, and will be priced at £1 each. Please do encourage your children to bring in some money to buy raffle tickets, either from the school office or from our Year 6 children at break times.

Many thanks, as always, for your support for those less fortunate.

PA Christmas Fair 2017

11.30am - 4.30pm, Sunday 3 December 2017

Can you believe that Christmas is just 6 weeks away and it's just 3 weeks until the PA Christmas Fair? This year, instead of year group parties, the PA has organised a fete where the children will have an entertainer and some food and will be able to meet Father Christmas. The added bonus this year is that there will be a huge range of stalls selling items that the parents can buy - so you can get a bit of Christmas shopping done while you're there.

To make this event the best day out for all of our children, the PA is looking for some volunteers who would be willing to help out on the day for varying times between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. This could involve anything from setting up/clearing up the hall to a shift as Santa:

• 9 x Santa’s Helpers for a 1½ hour shift each (uniform provided).
• Helpers to run stalls.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact us at pa@sthelenscollege.com with your name, contact details, what you would like to do and the times that you are available.  All help will be welcome.   

Finally, if you have any good quality Christmas decorations or Christmas trees that you would be prepared to let us borrow for the day, please contact us at  pa@sthelenscollege.com. Thank you.

Old Uniform

If any parents have any school uniform items which are no longer being used, we would be grateful if you would consider donating them either to raise funds for the PA or to charity.

Parents are asked to bring items to the school office. Branded items in good repair will be sold by the PA in second hand uniform sales, which will hopefully take place at school once a term from now on - please keep an eye out for news of when these will take place.

We also now have a system for sending uniform directly to a school in India, where it will help to clothe children who need it, so unbranded items and any branded items which do not sell will be sent off to India. St. Helen's College children will, in due course, be able to see pictures of their uniform being worn in the Indian school. The cost of shipping uniform will be £3.50 per kilo, so if any parent would like to donate towards this, please hand contributions in to the school office, in an envelope labelled Uniform Charity.  

We hope you will agree that it will be useful for St. Helen's College parents to have access to regular second hand uniform sales, and that donating clothes to an Indian school is a very worthwhile venture. We also hope that you will be able to dig out plenty of old uniform as the months and years go by, and that this will help you to declutter! Thank you very much, in advance, for your support in this endeavour.