School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 1/05/2020The Power Of Kindness
In the Upper School live assembly this week we heard from a Year 6 pupil, Krisha, and her sister, Arshia, who participated in Mindfulness training over the Easter Holiday. Krisha spoke to the children about how the way we think can affect what we do and how we behave. She encouraged the children not to let their thoughts become feelings too easily.
How wise and pertinent these words from an 11 year old pupil to her peers are at this most difficult time for us all when we find ourselves spending many more hours at home than ever before. Often we may find ourselves overthinking our feelings and worries and this in turn may lead us to behave in a thoughtless manner. ‘Mindless’ is the term that I like to use with the children to describe this sort of behaviour. We need to ‘respond’ to our feelings and thoughts in a mindful manner rather than ‘react’ in a mindless way.
Last week's blog focussed on adaptability and I am hugely proud of how our community are adapting. As the weeks of remote learning continue, our children’s and our own resilience will no doubt be challenged. Resilience means learning how to cope with uncertainty, how to make the most of the resources and connections you have around you, and how to adapt to changing situations.
Kindness is a big part of resilience: without kindness and support, dealing with difficult situations becomes much harder. Building resilience is also about being kind to yourself, so that challenges become easier in the future. Resilience and kindness build a stronger you and a stronger community.
The British Red Cross have embraced ‘Kindness' on their website and there is an array of resources available there to help children and families to be more resilient. There are also suggestions for ways in which we can celebrate ‘The Power of Kindness’. The children from Lower School and Upper School are being encouraged to record their kind acts in a small booklet which you can download from the Red Cross website, and you may also wish to download the ‘Power of Kindness’ calendar. Please take a look at the website here.
On the news each day we hear of amazing acts of humanity and kindness which people are carrying out through this coronavirus pandemic, and each day I hear stories of pupils, staff and parents which underline that, as a community, we also are playing our part. You will see in the news this week that Manisher L (Year 5) has been working to build a local community of support in her street, while Shakira V (Year 4) is making cards to cheer up vulnerable or elderly community members. Many of our staff and parents are NHS volunteers, using the NHS Responder app to answer calls and help meet the needs of the sick and vulnerable in their communities. We are taking care of each other, too. The lovely ‘Hello’ videos, compiled by Ms Thomas for Lower School and Mrs. Reid for Upper School, are one of the many ways in which we are working constantly to stay connected and to lift each other’s spirits in these tricky times. These acts of kindness are all helping to build resilience and give us all the tools to adapt to our challenges and respond mindfully to our feelings.
Please do continue to keep in touch and let us know about your acts of kindness. I am so proud to hear of every one, and so grateful to be a part of such a kind, caring, resilient, mindful and - despite all odds - happy community.
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 24/04/2020Adaptability
A quick internet search for ‘adaptability’ and ‘employers’ brings up article after article from the broadsheet press, from employment agencies and recruitment websites, and from the websites of top companies, citing adaptability as the key quality that today’s employers are looking for in new hires, including new graduates. Many high level employers have actually devised ways to test for adaptability as part of their recruitment processes.
Adaptability is defined as ‘the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions; an ability or willingness to change in order to suit different conditions’. The specific adaptability that employers are looking for has, perhaps, a slightly wider definition: they might add the words ‘effectively’, ‘successfully’, ‘quickly’, ‘independently’ or ‘good naturedly’ to this definition. Certainly, a key ingredient for success in the adult world into which our current pupils will enter is likely to be the ability to adapt oneself to an ever-changing and sometimes totally unprecedented environment… like the one in which we all find ourselves now!
This might sound a big ask, but it is surely going to be second nature to St. Helen’s College children and, perhaps more widely, to the younger generation in general. When, on March 20th, schools were ordered into lockdown by the government, our pupils had to come to terms, almost overnight, with the idea that they would, for the foreseeable future, be unable to see their friends, teachers and other support staff in person. They had to adapt, with speed and good humour, to learning and communicating online, to working more independently and to finding their place in a household that most likely suddenly became more full of people than ever before. They had to understand, very quickly, that it was their own responsibility to develop and feed their enquiring mind and they had to do all of this while attempting to understand the wider local, national and international implications of the threat of the pandemic in which we find ourselves.
Wow! That is a lot to expect of adults, but for children it feels impossible. However, as Audrey Hepburn said, there is no such thing as ‘impossible’ – the word itself is ‘I’m Possible’. What our children have certainly discovered over the last few weeks is that they themselves are the key to their success. HOW they approach their learning, their relationships and their health is key. The success criteria in a new situation, even an unprecedented one, are the same as in any situation: being willing to listen, learn and think creatively; being able to try, fail and learn from failures; being ready to reflect, be still and find the voice within. Our values are what allow us to do these things effectively in new situations. If we have a strong personal core – if we know who we are and what we believe in – if perseverance, honesty, determination, kindness and the pursuit of excellence are embedded in our very being – then surely we are well-placed for success no matter what the outside world might throw at us. Moreover, if we have our own interests and a willingness to try new things and keep ourselves busy, active and learning in new situations, then our mental and physical health are likely to be maintained even in restrictive circumstances.
This is why the St. Helen’s College aims, and our values-based education system, are given such a high priority at the school, and are referred back to in everything that we do. No matter what the ‘crisis’, no matter what the new demands, no matter what our physical restrictions, we continue to aim for excellence and to nourish a love of learning, to encourage children to discover their own talents and interests by taking part in a wide range of activities, and to instil core Christian values so that children develop integrity, self-awareness and resilience. It has been a joy to hear how our pupils are embodying these aims in lockdown, from keeping busy writing songs, creating art, building marble runs, taking up new sports and hobbies to adapting and persevering in using online systems that might be new to them. We are sure that, having had the opportunity to practise adaptability and reflect upon it in such a major way, they will be high on the list of desirable candidates for any future employer!
There is not time now to discuss the amazing adaptability shown by parents and school staff in the current situation…perhaps that will be for another blog…but please rest assured that we know how very adaptable parents are having to be, and that we are amazingly proud of the flexibility, commitment and great integrity that our whole community is showing during this strange time.
We look forward to practising our adaptability again when we are able to adjust back to some sort of normality – hopefully sooner rather than later!
https://www.fastcompany.com/90482018/adaptability-should-be-your-new-hires-top-soft-skill-heres-how-to-test-for-it
Posted on: 3/04/2020#Adventure
I have joined a group of fellow educators this week to participate in a daily writing challenge. Today’s 500 word challenge struck a chord with me, following my conversations last night as I joined my community for the second week to clap for our NHS workers and other carers.
The word we were encouraged to blog about today is ‘Adventure’.
An adventure is often defined as exciting, involving an element of risk and unknown outcomes. When we hear the word, we think of adventure stories and films, in which the heroes and other characters undergo challenges, often making a journey of self-discovery as they do so and, almost always, working through difficulties and risky situations to positive endings.
I do not think that any of us could have anticipated what our NHS workers are currently up against, and we certainly would not glibly define their vocation as an adventure during this COVID-19 crisis. But there are similarities: every day these workers are most certainly at risk, their daily outcomes are most certainly unknown and they are embracing their roles with courage, stoicism and grace.
Yesterday, the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, Dame Donna Kinnair, spoke out on behalf of thousands of nurses who felt that NHS staff were being let down and put at great risk by the lack of personal protective equipment for nursing staff, including those in hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes and hospices, as well as community nurses visiting people in their homes. In a letter to the Health and Safety Executive, she called the situation ‘unconscionable’ and called upon the HSE to intervene.
My sister has been in despair for weeks; she is a District Nurse Team Leader and a National Clinical Lead for Nursing and has been deeply concerned about how ill-equipped her district nurses have been on a daily basis. She has been handing out insubstantial face masks to her team - one mask per nurse per day - and felt this was an insult to their professionalism as they continued to put their own safety and wellbeing at risk for the greater good. We now hear that, at last, teams of NHS workers will become protected and will be able to fulfil their roles without the fear of becoming infected themselves or infecting a vulnerable person. NHS worker testing is another dilemma which we hope to see resolved soon.
Late last night I checked in on another friend, who is currently working 12 hour shifts at a London hospital as an Intensive Care Unit nurse. Her world, and that of all of her colleagues, has been turned on its head. She is drained, exhausted and anxious, but is coping with her anxiety admirably and has documented her experiences in a blog - her way of dealing with the reality of the situation.
Schools, including St. Helen’s College, are doing their bit by remaining open over the Easter holiday to look after the children of key workers. We are grateful to be able to help our key worker parents in this way, who are crucial to supporting this crisis and we thank all of our parents for playing your part, in critical key worker roles, as NHS and other volunteers, as supportive members of your local and wider community and, by no means least, in supporting your children and wider family during these challenging times.
The young children we have in school at the moment may regard having the school to themselves as a bit of an ‘adventure’ too - there are very few of them with us, and the school must seem strange and empty to them without their friends around them. Luckily, our amazing staff see it as an adventure too and are helping to fill those children’s days with love and structure. Our children most likely cannot understand the enormity of the crisis that we find ourselves in as they live through it. I hope that, one day in the future, they will read blogs and listen to stories from parents and others who are on the front line at the moment.
We will get through this moment in our history, and perhaps one day we will be able to see it as one of the great ‘adventures’ of our lives, in the strictest of senses - not a fictional story but a very real time of the unknown; a time of the unthinkable, but a time during which we all found great courage and self-awareness, and during which we cemented our roles in our families, communities and society as a whole.
Thinking of you all; stay safe, stay connected, stay strong.
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 27/03/2020Stay Connected
This is undoubtedly one of the hardest blogs I have ever attempted to write. Last night, as I joined with my neighbours and the entire nation to applaud the NHS, I was quite overwhelmed with emotion. This week has been like no other and I am sure you all feel the same.
As yet, I have not actually been at home during the day and I am so grateful to have a routine of some form to my day, albeit ‘school’ has not been normal. We have had a small number of children attending each day, whose parents are our incredible key workers, and I am in awe of their resilience and adaptability. Our young Ducklings through to our Year 6 children have been so resilient as they have adapted to new classrooms, new staff and a very quiet school, some of them not quite understanding where all their friends are. The staff in school have been just wonderful: support staff, TALAs and teachers all pulling together to make each day as happy and productive as possible for the children. You can see some photographs of the school this week on our Galleries page here. I have also been able to join in class Google meets, during which children, working remotely, have touched base with their form teachers, and I have joined in on a guided reading session on World War II, a recorder lesson, Chamber Choir, story time and many more outstanding distance learning sessions throughout the week.
Our teachers, working from home, have surpassed all expectations! Their enthusiasm and dedication this week has humbled me as they have supported each other, learning new skills and working tirelessly into the wee early hours to video lessons, upload resources, provide feedback and assess tasks the children have been working on.
Your children have been outstanding, and you as parents have been outstanding! I know for many of you who are also working from home this week you must feel as though you have been put through the wringer, trying to support your children’s learning as well as adapting to your new routines of working from home. The last thing we wish to do is to cause anxiety and stress for you all at home, so I would like to take this chance to say that the distance learning educational provision needs to be approached by each family as appropriate for you. This is only Week 1 of a journey which may be quite a long one and we need to treat it as a marathon rather than a sprint. I do think that your children are proving they are in good shape for this marathon, but we appreciate here at school that you must settle into a sustainable pace for the family.
Yesterday I participated in a live webinar along with 160 other Head teachers and Bursars and we spoke with the Headteacher/CEO from the Kellet British International School in Hong Kong whose school is now on Day 41 of distance learning. They have learnt many lessons along their journey and have worked with their community of pupils, parents and staff to ensure that everyone is being looked after in such uncertain times. I felt quite gratified and proud of our St. Helen’s College community as we are only into Day 5 of our distance learning experience and already have so much in place which they did not have at the outset.
Wellbeing for everyone is paramount at the moment and it is so important, for children and adults alike, that we allow ourselves to acknowledge how we are feeling. Take time to notice the wobbles - they will happen to everyone I am sure, as we all live through something which none of us expected. It is how we respond to our wobbles that is important. Perhaps, by using the tools of mindfulness and bringing attention to our breath, we can try to find stillness as we acknowledge how our bodies and minds are feeling.
Your children already know so much about mindfulness and they will be able to teach you some of the practices which we do in assemblies - so I hope that you will be able to have some moments of quiet stillness every day with your family. I have shared with you below a famous poem which is often recited in mindfulness circles; our current Year 6 have discussed the poem and understand the sentiment, not to resist the thoughts and emotions that pass through you but to meet them with courage, warmth and respect.
Over the Easter holidays it may be very difficult for us all to negotiate the impacts of what is happening in our country and our world. Please do reach out to each other, staying connected by whatever means you can. Many of us are possibly grieving the old way of life from just a week ago but at the end of this we will, no doubt, value human contact even more.
If anyone is concerned about how their child or even an adult is coping then Mrs. Brooker, our ‘time to talk’ listener, is more than happy to be contacted. Parents all have our staff contact details. We will also be keeping in contact with you regularly over the holiday - as a community we will get through this together.
Below I have sign posted some additional sites which may be useful for you as parents to help your children cope and keep busy at this time.
Some top tips on how to talk to our children about Coronavirus:
https://www.cwmt.org.uk/mental-health-coronavirus
Opera
I am sure like me you are being inundated with emails and posts on social media about things to do with your family whilst in lockdown, but I am delighted that the Royal Opera House will be streaming live and tonight's ‘Peter and the Wolf’ may be enjoyed by young and old!
http://email.wordfly.com/view/?sid=ODBfNDg1NTRfMTI5OTcxN183MzQ5&l=708b7e31-646f-ea11-bd94-e61f134a8c87&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_March_Peter_and_the_Wolf_Countdown&utm_content=version_A&emailsource=49941
Theatre
During the holidays I love to attend the theatre with my family and although it may not be possible to be there physically I am pleased that I may enjoy some productions - the link below provides information of shows which are live streaming.
http://www.filmedonstage.com/news/76-free-musicals-and-plays-you-can-now-stream-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak-updating-daily
Singing Competition
I am sure many children are avidly rehearsing for the St. Helen's College annual Singers Competition next term - please keep encouraging them to do so, as this is an event which we are looking forward to very much.
Rainbow Trail
During the Easter Holidays do encourage your children to become part of the Rainbow Trail - to share positivity families have been taking part in creative projects to display rainbows in their windows/gardens to stay connected with their community and spread positivity. It would be wonderful to see some photos of the rainbows you create - here is our first one, from Mylo and Oliver O!
Free Audible Books
In assembly on Thursday, we showed the children a site for free audio books during the school closure period. Here is the link: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen. The books come in different age categories and even include foreign language sections. It is a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore stories in a new and exciting way whilst boosting their vocabulary.
Stay safe everyone; stay home but stay connected. Thank you all for being my extended family.
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 6/03/2020Books, Books, Books
I was saddened to read an article in the Guardian newspaper last weekend which relayed the shocking statistic that a recent survey found that, in 2019, just 26% of under 18s spent some time each day reading. This is the lowest daily level recorded since the charity concerned first surveyed children’s reading habits in 2005. The research also found that fewer children enjoy reading, and that this declined with age: nearly twice as many 5 to 8 year olds as 14 to 16 year olds said they took pleasure from reading. Overall, just 53% of children said they enjoyed reading “very much” or “quite a lot” – the lowest level since 2013.
The research is so worrying because all educators and, I believe, the vast majority of parents know the value of reading for young children. Reading underpins absolutely everything in primary education: it teaches engagement, sparks curiosity, encourages focus and concentration, fires up the imagination and is the medium through which comprehension skills such as inference and extrapolation are taught and developed. By far the most important thing, educationally, that any parent can do with their young child is to model and inspire a love of books and reading, by reading widely themselves and spending time each day reading to and then with their child.
No child is too young for the joy of reading - even new-born babies enjoy the sound of a parent’s voice and the wonder and sense of discovery as that voice conveys different emotions: joy, excitement or suspense. Spending precious time with your child every day to share books is time extremely well spent. As your child grows older, you can mix it up, with you reading some parts of the book and them joining in. Children will memorise those children’s picture books that are regularly read to them and will enjoy, even before they can read themselves, telling the story as if they are reading. As they learn to associate the words on the page with the words they are hearing/saying, they are learning to read almost magically! Of course, we teach children to read at school using tried and tested methods, as well as the latest developments in pedagogical thinking, but it is at home that a love of reading can be inspired and embedded.
I am proud that, at St. Helen’s College, we inspire readers in so many ways: our teaching staff take great care to ensure that reading is regular, purposeful and enjoyable for the children; our well-stocked libraries offer a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books, and children visit the school library and begin choosing books right from Nursery. Our dedicated librarians at Upper School run reading challenges, employ pupil librarians, create interesting and inspiring displays, refresh stock constantly and with great awareness of what will be of value to children, and are always ready with a recommendation. Guided reading in English lessons throughout the school and extra reading clubs add to the children’s positive and meaningful reading experiences, as do special themed days like the wonderful World Book Day we enjoyed this week.
We live in an ever-changing world, and other media are having their moment. Films, online content including short videos and social media memes are rife and do, of course, have some value. But there is absolutely no substitution for reading books in terms of setting your child up for success both inside and outside of school. Through books, children can discover all of life. They can ‘visit’ and gain understanding of other cultures; they can explore the emotions of themselves and others; they can imagine a world of colour and interest, actively developing their creativity in ways that they simply cannot by sitting passively in front of a screen.
So please, I urge you, support your child in their reading. We ask that parents throughout the school read with their children every single day and that you question your child to make sure that they have understood what you or they have read. Depending on their age, you might ask them to retell the story, ask them to think of an alternative ending, or ask them what the characters are feeling and why. You could ask them to find the words that the author has used that prove that their answers are correct. Children who are questioned in this way grow used to thinking carefully about what they are reading, which ensures excellent comprehension.
I do hope that World Book Day has inspired your children to want to read more, and I hope that parents will feel inspired too. If you can make time for this most important of activities, your child will thrive and you will hopefully experience some real joy each day too! I am sure that, at St. Helen’s College, the number of children who would say they enjoy reading is well over 53% - but we will not, and should not, rest until we are absolutely confident that it is 100%!
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 28/02/2020Hygiene
With Coronavirus dominating the news, we have of course been reviewing the risks to our school community and ensuring that we all have possible measures in place to promote and safeguard the welfare of our pupils, parents and staff.
This week, children have been reminded in assemblies and/or class time about the importance of good hygiene and about how they can help themselves by adopting good hygiene habits for life. It is important that these habits are reinforced consistently at home and at school, so I would like to share with you the areas on which we focus and ask parents and other carers to convey these messages at home too.
Hand Washing
By far the most important hygiene measure is proper hand washing. Children are asked to wash their hands in the mornings, after using the toilet, before and after eating, and at the end of the school day. It may be appropriate for them to wash their hands at other times too.
The key message here is to wash hands properly. Children are often in a rush to get to the next exciting thing – particularly food! – and do need reminders and encouragement to wash their hands thoroughly, using the hand soap provided. Pupils have been shown this short ‘Germ Smart’ handwashing video which explains exactly what they should do when washing their hands. Please do watch this and ensure that your children follow these procedures when hand washing or using hand sanitising gel.
‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’
We use the mantra ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ to teach children how to sneeze or blow noses into tissues and then throw those tissues away promptly, followed by a thorough hand wash to kill any germs. This short video is a useful reminder of how to catch, bin and kill germs that could be transmitted through sneezing or touching your face and then touching other surfaces.
Thank you for your support in continuing to share these resources with your children. Perhaps the most important thing is that all adults lead by example, modelling good hygiene practices whenever you can so that your children see good hygiene as a normal, essential part of life. Children ‘learn what they live’ and will, almost unknowingly, adopt the behaviours they witness regularly. So every time you wash your hands properly or ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’, you are doing something good not just for yourself but for your children too!
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 14/02/2020Celebrating Learning
Over the past couple of weeks around the school there has been a constant celebration of pupils' learning. Traditionally this may have taken the form of high marks in exams, full marks in tests, pressure and public accountability for achieving highly but at St. Helen’s College the teachers and pupils have taken a more creative slant to celebrating success!
As you are aware, we like to challenge our children in all that they do - we all need to feel the heat in our learning journey - feel the challenge, experience what it feels to be out of our comfort zone. Our pupils thrive on this and astonish us with their creativity in being able to demonstrate their tenacity and their ability to demonstrate what they have learnt in their own unique way.
In Science lessons I have witnessed pupils writing poetry, performing raps, composing and singing songs and creating the most incredible models. In all these forms of learning outcomes the pupils have taken risks in their learning. They have been individual; they have not followed the crowd; they have used their knowledge of subject matter to challenge themselves to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of concepts taught to them.
It is such a joy to engage with the children as they describe to me what they have been learning about. Taha (Year 6) was particularly animated last week as he exclaimed, ‘It was disgusting Mrs. Drummond - my hands were covered in blood but it was amazing...I could see the inside of the heart and lungs, all the tubes and other parts - it was great!”
I must add that it is a credit to all the pupils, the parents (for giving their permission) and to Ms Gilham (and her butcher) that we are able to extend the children's learning at such a young age to give them first hand experience of being able to dissect a sheep's heart and lungs to see for themselves the circulatory system which they have been studying.
A recent article in the NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education) journal cited an article written by York St John titled ‘Perfectionism in more able learners; what do we know and what next?” I quote an extract below.
“Recent research suggests that perfectionism has become a hidden epidemic among students over the last 30 years, with students now more perfectionistic than ever before. In addition, this complex characteristic has been found to explain a wide range of outcomes among students. On one hand, some aspects of being perfectionistic are related to better academic performance. But, on the other hand, other aspects of perfectionism have been found to be significant sources of psychological distress for students, including burnout and depression.”
I am writing this blog on the eve of our Wellbeing focus day and it is with a sense of pride that I feel confident that our pupils at St. Helen’s College are given the correct classroom climate where there is healthy challenge and opportunity to revel in their success without the damage which can often be done where a culture of ‘perfectionism’ can exists.
Words that spring to mind every day when I listen and breathe in the culture of St Helen’s College are:
collaboration mindset creativity excellence challenge resilience wellbeing
We have children of all abilities at St. Helens’ College and pride ourselves that we endorse a ‘Challenge for all' attitude to learning - all children are encouraged to do their best by parents and staff but it is by ensuring that our expectations and classroom culture are appropriate, that we do not allow the children to fixate on mistakes and errors. FAIL - that 'first attempt in learning' is so important. We celebrate success and effort by all.
I am sure your children will come home on Friday evening for the half term break revelling in the events of our Wellbeing focus day - but that I will keep for a future blog!
Have a super half term break and look after your wellbeing!
I leave you with one example of learning from Catherine in Year 6!
Healthy Bodies Poem
Ms Gilham, a science teacher, and amazing too,
Taught us about living healthily to help beat the blues
She’s told us about striving to eat a varied diet,
To give us minerals and energy, you cannot deny it!
But this is because it’s important to eat,
Our 7 food groups: fibre, protein, vitamins,
fats, water and carbohydrates (including wheat!)
We’ve learnt about Dr Livingstone who
Found out about scurvy to help beat the flu,
The sailors, who were suffering from scurvy onboard,
Were found to lack vitamins but were soon restored,
By eating 2 oranges and a lemon a day,
They just needed some Vitamin C, hip, hip, hooray!
But we know about alcohol, smoking, medicine and drugs
We know they can cause harm, even a stomach bug,
Though not all are damaging, there are one’s that help you,
Like penicillin, Nurofen and many more too!
Cocaine and nicotine are highly addictive,
They can give you heart problems, that’s why they’re constrictive.
Alcohol is permitted in small doses
But drinking too much is bad as it poses
Threats to your physical and mental state,
That can sometimes, if you’re not careful, lead to your fate!
Remember, please, to try not to smoke,
It causes so many problems and can lead to a stroke,
Turns your lungs a sooty black hue,
And because I breathe the toxic air, it harms me and you!
Taking blood from to the heart to the cells and back,
Dealing with all things vascular and cardiac.
Next up, we’ll talk about the arteries,
They take blood from the heart where its gotta be,
The biggest artery, the main transporter,
Right next to the heart,
It’s called the aorta.
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