School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 10/12/2021Weekly 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: 10/12/2021Self-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: 3/12/2021Weekly 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)
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