School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 12/03/2021Weekly News - Friday 12th March 2021
Eco School
We are delighted that our eco school flags have arrived, which recognise our commitment to sustainability and improving the environment. We will be finding somewhere suitable to display them...do look out for them in due course!
To further promote sustainability, a new textile bank has been installed alongside the path outside 227 Long Lane (Windsor).
Please feel free to donate your unwanted clothes, shoes, accessories, belts, bags, bed linen and soft toys by posting them into the bank. These textiles are either sent to poorer communities across Europe, or recycled into industrial cleaning wipes so that nothing ends up in landfill and the school will be paid a small amount per kilo for items donated. Please note that items that CANNOT be accepted are duvets, pillows, cushions, carpets, rugs, workwear and textile off-cuts.
We hope that this will be a useful service for families, especially as charity shops are not currently open, as well as encouraging us all to be more eco-friendly by recycling more and sending less to landfill. Please feel free to pull into the car park outside 227 Long Lane at weekends if you have items to donate.
St. Helen's College Instagram
Many parents already follow our St. Helen's College Art Instagram account. We would like to encourage you also to follow our main St. Helen's College Instagram account here. Please do sign up to follow us!
Red Nose Day - Friday 19th March
We will be supporting Comic Relief on Red Nose Day next Friday and have set up a 'Just Giving' page on behalf of the school.
Children should come to school on this day wearing red and/or with any of the Comic Relief merchandise such as red noses, boppers, t-shirts etc. We ask that each family makes a donation in order for their child to come in their own clothes. We suggest a minimum donation of £2 per family, but of course all donations will be most welcome for this very worthy cause. You can donate by following this link.
There will be a slightly altered special menu for Red Nose Day. You can see this here.
Online Safety
National Online Safety have published useful guides about social media apps including Whatsapp, Snapchat and Tiktok. We encourage all parents to read these and, in particular, to note the ages at which these accounts are permitted for children. For example, the age at which Whatsapp is permitted in the UK is 16.
NoS have many other useful resources. If you have not already done so, please register here as a St. Helen's College parent to see similar weekly guides and other useful information on online safety.
Music - Assembly Performances
If your Upper School child would like to perform their instrument or sing during a Friday assembly slot this term, please contact Mrs. Fawbert at cfawbert@sthelenscollege.com or let your class teacher know. Performing in this way is a great opportunity for your child to gain confidence, whethr or not they are currently preparing for a grade exam. While assemblies are taking place remotely, the children perform in the Evans Hall with Mrs. Fawbert, with their performances broadcast live to the rest of the Upper School. Their peers are always generous with their applause and kind comments!
Guess The Place
Congratulations to our pupils in Upper School who correctly guessed last week's place was the White Cliffs of Dover. Well done to Penelope, Samara, Avantika, Grace, Kal-El and Hana in Year 3, Poppy and Advik in Year 4, Shakira, Diyan, Charlotte, Natalia, Oliver, Amber and Anjika in Year 5 and Sophia, Pavitar, Zail, Samir and Vidhit in Year 6.
Congratulations too to our pupils in Year 2 and Lower School who correctly guessed that the place in London last week was the Cenotaph. Well done to Phoebe in Nursery, Millie and Riyan in Year 1 and Simar, Evie, Alexia and Avar in Year 2.
Continuing Professional Development
At St. Helen's College, we pride ourselves on developing not only the children but the staff too. We are delighted that Mrs. Reid (formerly Miss Heath), one of our Upper School Teaching and Learning Assistants, will commence teacher training from September 2021. Mrs. Reid will remain with us while she is training and we know that she will be an asset to the teaching team.
We are very proud to announce that Mrs. Smith has just been awarded a distinction in her AMCIS (Association of Marketing & Communications in Independent Schools) diploma. We are very fortunate to have her expertise and high level of professionalism at the school.
We are also thrilled that Mrs. Cargill has successfully completed her Diploma in School Business Management and is enjoying putting her learning into practice each day at St. Helen's College.
All of this continuous professional development is a testament to the commitment of our staff to self-improvement, which will no doubt have an impact on the future of St. Helen's College and your children.
Pick Up And Go - Parkway
As is often the case when children first return to school after time away, Parkway has been very busy at drop off and pick up times this week. This has prompted a complaint from a neighbour about cars queueing along the length of Parkway.
We have reminded teachers that pupils must be brought out for collection promptly at their end of day time. We would like also to remind parents not to arrive early to pick up your child. If you arrive and there is already a queue of more than two or three cars for pick up and go, please drive past them to the car park, park your car and walk down to collect your child. If you are using pick up and go, please remind your child to enter the car promptly and fasten their seat belt immediately so that you may safely pull away without delay. The same applies at 'drop and go' in the mornings - please encourage your child to have all that they need ready so that they can exit the car promptly when you pull alongside the kerb, and please then pull your car away as soon as it is safe to do so.
The systems do generally work very well and we are sure they will continue to do so, if we all work together to make drop off and pick up as smooth as possible! Many thanks for your support in this.
Asymptomatic Covid Testing for Parents
Please note that voluntary asymptomatic testing is available for adults in households with school aged children (as well as in childcare and support bubbles). As a school we are not able to provide tests to families but please see below the information from the DfE about this scheme and how to access tests.
There are different ways for a household, childcare or support bubble to collect their test to take at home, twice-weekly:
through your employer, if they offer testing to employees
by collecting a home test kit from a local test site - anyone aged 18 or over can collect two packs of seven tests
by ordering a home test kit online; please do not order online if you can access testing through other routes - this frees up home delivery for those who need it most.
Posted on: 5/03/2021Patience by Mrs. Smith
I would have loved to have written a blog about our value of Patience this week, but I have been rather caught up in the crucial work of updating the school's comprehensive Covid risk assessment. I therefore invited Mrs. Smith to write on the theme of Patience for us this week. Enjoy!
Mrs. Drummond
Patience
Our value of the week this week is ‘Patience’, and we discussed this in our assemblies today. At Lower School and Ducklings, Mrs. Hunt showed the children this very short video as a prompt to discuss what patience is and how to practise it. At Upper School, we watched a video of some children telling us, in their own words, what they thought patience meant. They came up with some very good ideas, like ‘waiting for something’ and ‘holding back your anger or frustration’.
The dictionary definition of patience is actually this: ‘the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious’.
I find these words beautiful, because they neatly encapsulate what we all probably instinctively know: that being patient is a capacity, not a genetic quality. While it is true that some people naturally have more patience, for others (myself included) this quality does not come easily. The good news is that, like our capacity for love, for empathy, or for resilience, our capacity for patience can be increased through self-awareness, determination and practice. So, how do we cultivate patience and why is this quality – or value – so very important in our lives?
The simple answer is that we cultivate our capacity for patience through practising being patient. To do this, we need to exercise our self-control and push away feelings of annoyance or anxiety that arise when we are experiencing a prolonged delay in waiting for something. We need to remind ourselves that the thing we are waiting for will eventually come – and sometimes, we need to remind ourselves that, even if it doesn’t eventually come, we will nevertheless be ok. We all practise patience on a daily basis: the parent who feels frustrated waiting for a child to get dressed; the child who longs for break time when they can get out into the playground with their friends; the adult who is thirsty during a meeting and has to wait until they can have a drink; the teacher who is ready for lunch at 11.00 o’clock and must wait until lunch time! These are small, manageable, daily examples. Exercising patience can be done in these situations partly because it has to be done, and partly because it has been done before.
However, there are also times - this year in particular – when we can practise patience on a larger level. Since last March, we have lived with more uncertainty than ever before, and we have had to manage our anxiety and learn to accept and tolerate delay, problems and suffering in a whole new way. We have waited to find out what the latest government advice will be, waited to hear the latest data on the spread of the virus, waited to give our loved ones a hug, to go to the gym again, to go shopping, to get our hair cut and to go back to school. Many, many people across the world have waited anxiously and unhappily to find out whether a sick friend or relative will make a recovery. There has been a lot of talk about the resilience we have all developed during this pandemic, and patience is at the root of that resilience. I think that we all understand now, more than ever, that there are things outside of our control, and things inside of our control. If we can keep our focus on those things we can control – our capacity to keep ourselves positive and to be patient in the face of uncertainty and adversity – we can better support ourselves and those around us.
At St. Helen’s College, children of every age have practised patience in waiting for school to re-open, waiting to be re-connected with friends and teachers and waiting for clubs and sports to resume. For such young pupils, this cannot have been easy. No doubt, as parents, you have found yourselves providing a lot of support and perspective for the younger generation during this time. You, and your children, should feel very proud of your newly expanded capacity for patience and controlling your anxieties and frustrations. Mrs. Drummond has asked me to mention, in particular, our Year 6 children who, this year, have had to cope with uncertainties over whether and when 11+ exams and entry procedures would go ahead. They (and their parents) have then also had to exercise great patience while waiting for results that, in many cases, decided their future paths. We are enormously proud, of course, of their amazing academic achievements and of their success in securing places at the senior schools of their choice. However, we are all equally proud of the patience they have shown, both in persisting in their endeavours in the face of uncertainties, and in managing the inevitable anxieties while waiting for their results. These are truly brave, resilient and patient young men and women, whose personal qualities, as well as their excellent knowledge and skills, make them very well placed for future success at their senior schools and beyond.
We have always lived in an uncertain world, and we always will. Other illnesses, natural disasters, economic problems and accidents will no doubt beset us during our lifetimes. It is our inner qualities that are our biggest defence and protection against these unforeseen difficulties. The main one is no doubt our human capacity for love and kindness, and for building families and communities that support us in troubling times. But second, I think, even above resilience, is our astonishing and ever-developing capacity for patience.
Parents do often know best, so I will give my wonderful mum the last word here. One of her favourite sayings as I was growing up was, ‘Patience is a virtue’. Another was, ‘Virtue is its own reward’. Added together, these proverbs are saying that, if we can cultivate patience, we will be better people and that, in becoming better people, we will improve our own lives as we reap the benefits of our own goodness. That seems to me to be a very good thing.
Mrs. Smith
Posted on: 5/03/2021Weekly News - Friday 5th March
World Book Day
What an amazing day we had yesterday, celebrating World Book Day 2021.
Children from Ducklings to Year 6 dressed up in special clothes to represent our theme of 'magical worlds', and enjoyed thinking about their favourite books and characters.
The children from Ducklings to Year 2 were treated to a wonderful virtual visit from author Emily Gravett. She showed us all around her studio, which included her cute dog Dilys! It was amazing to see how she creates her illustrations, beginning with pencils and paints and then using computers and scanners. We were fascinated to listen to her funny stories and discover how she became such a successful author and illustrator. We also had fun taking part in many book related activities such as a book scavenger hunt and filming our book reviews!
At Upper School, a special assembly led by Mr. Roche told us all about the benefits and joys of reading. We were lucky to have a virtual author visit from Ross Welford. Speaking to the children in Years 3-6, he demonstrated his love of magic and walked the children through writing the first chapter of their very own novel. We hope that they feel inspired to carry on and complete their books!
As part of this special day, children in all year groups were challenged to create their own 'reading den' - a special place, decorated however they like, that they can use anytime for reading. Research shows that reading helps to reduce stress levels, so even a few minutes a day spent in these special places will be a great benefit! The children adopted this task enthusiastically (assisted at home by their parents, we are sure!). You can see some photographs of their wonderful reading dens on the Galleries page.
Don't forget that our virtual book fair is still running until the end of today. You and your children can enjoy browsing a wonderful selection of children’s books in the comfort of your own home and raise money for the school at the same time if you make purchases! 20% of sales will be donated to the school so that we can buy more books for our library and classrooms. The books have been carefully selected to ensure that you can choose from the most recent and most popular titles of the highest quality, as well as some much-loved classics. All you need to do is click this link and get shopping!
https://chilternbookshops.co.uk/primary-school-book-fair/
All orders will be delivered direct to the school (unless you select to collect them from Chorleywood or Gerrards Cross Bookshops).
Happy browsing, happy shopping and many thanks indeed for your support in encouraging your child with their reading and supporting the school's library resources!
A SAFE Return to School
We are all looking forward so much to coming together fully, in person, as a community again from Monday. Ahead of the return to school, we would like to set the children a little challenge, to design an A4 poster relating to our SAFE acronym:
S - stay a sensible/good/2m distance from each other
A- always wash our hands correctly and when we need to
F - free to talk with the adults about how we are feeling
E - enjoy each day together
Pupils should bring their designs to school on Monday and the best designs will be laminated and displayed around the school. Happy creating!
Our school Risk Assessment for Full School Re-Opening has been updated for the return to school on 8th March, and is available for all parents to read on the School Documents page of this website here. It will be updated weekly, with the first review taking place on Monday 8th March.
Wellerman Video
Thank you so much to the children who, inspired by our assembly with the fabulous Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark, have contributed to our school Wellerman video. Mrs. Fawbert had quite a task to put the video together, with so many different instruments being played and people singing and doing actions! She was extremely proud of everyone who contributed. You can see the finished video here.
Miss Joiner
We know that parents will wish to join us in wishing our Owls Reception teacher Miss Joiner well as she embarks on her maternity leave, a little earlier than planned due to the Covid situation. We would like to thank Miss Joiner for all her work with Owls this year in such challenging circumstances, and we wish her well with the rest of her pregnancy. Take care, Miss Joiner, and we will look forward to seeing you back in school with your new addition in due course!
Road Safety Assembly - Petition Success!
Well done to our amazing Junior Road Safety Officers, who gave a confident, informative presentation in assembly on Monday to report back on the action already taken by the local council following the petition that they organised to improved safety around the crossing on Long Lane.
Our school petition asked the council to consider replacing the existing zebra crossing with a pelican crossing. This option is being investigated but, in order to improve safety at the crossing immediately, the council have already installed very, very bright 'zebrites' at the crossing to deter vehicles from travelling too fast towards the crossing.
Representatives from the London Borough of Hillingdon STARS team joined us for this special assembly and were so impressed with the presentation and with the ongoing St. Helen's College commitment to road safety.
Free Asthma Workshops for Parents
Hillingdon Health are running a free asthma workshop for parents on Friday 26th March, from 2 - 3 p.m. This workshop, run by a qualified asthma nurse, will cover inhaler techniques, common triggers, asthma myths and what to do if your child is having an asthma attack. Full details, including how to sign up, can be found by following this link.
Guess The Place
Congratulations to all those who correctly guessed this week's places.
The Lower School place was the Globe Theatre, famous for William Shakespeare's plays, and the following people guessed correctly:
Nursery: Phoebe, Sikhya.
Reception: Dev, Arup.
Year 1: Amara, Millie, Alyssa, Aakash, Shayla, Yuvraj, Armaan, Rania, Riyan, Rohaym.
Year 2: Simar, Evie, Alexia, Aaran, Diya.
The Upper School place was the Albert Docks in Liverpool and the following people guessed correctly:
Year 3: Raiden, Joseph, Aleyna, Grace, Sean, Verity, Tiya, Sarab, Penelope, Hana.
Year 4: Oliver, Myla, Yousra, Karan, Marvin, Dylan, Inaya, Dominic, Xavier, Eshvani, Annie.
Year 5: Riddhi, Natalia, Anokhi, Deven, Diyan, Charlotte, Anjika, Oliver.
Year 6: Zail, Samir.
EasyFundraising for St. Helen's College
If you are not already raising funds for St. Helen's College Development Fund when you shop online, please do consider signing up! It is completely free to you and the school's development fund will receive donations whenever you shop online at many, many retailers.
To sign up, just click the link below to create your account and then download the EasyFundraising app to your mobile phone and/or tablet, and/or allow EasyFundraising to add the donation reminder to any desktop computers you use. Then simply use the app or the online reminder to raise money when you shop online. Many parents and staff are already doing this and, although each donation seems small, if we all remember to use EasyFundraising we will be able to raise a meaningful amount for the Development Fund. We are hoping, gradually, to build a meaningful enough fund that we can then use both to support our school and to support charitable educational projects in less developed countries.
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sthelencoldevfund/?invite=NX24VZ&referral-campaign=c2s
Many, many thanks to those parents are already signed up and to those who will sign up now! Please don't forget, in particular, to use EasyFundraising for those big ticket items, like hotel/holiday/flight bookings or when you are switching insurance suppliers.
Posted on: 26/02/2021The Power of Empathy by Miss Walker
As we come to the end of National Empathy Week, I thought it would be timely to reflect on the power of empathy and how practising empathy will be so important in supporting our children and each other as we navigate our way through and beyond the pandemic.
Empathy is at the root of compassion, respect, kindness, friendship, consideration and acceptance. It’s different from having sympathy for someone, which means to look at their suffering from the outside and feel sorry or sad for them. Empathy is feeling someone else’s pain or seeing through their eyes. From infancy, human brains are hard-wired for relationships and connection. We crave interactions and authentic connections that give us a sense of belonging. The science of empathy is at the core of emotional intelligence and relationship mastery and it lies within the limbic brain (emotional brain) and prefrontal cortex (rational mind).
By recognising feelings, thinking how and why someone is feeling this way and acting to be there for someone, we can have a huge impact for those who might be finding life challenging at this time. If we can develop our own empathy practice, it will help us connect with people we love and care about—and even handle those challenging situations or difficult people in our lives more gracefully. Children who experience and receive empathy will feel connected, safer and more secure, easing the pain of life's hardships and struggles for them and they will be far more likely to be empathetic themselves. Therefore it is vitally important that we develop our own empathetic practice so that we can model what empathy looks and feels like to our children and support them as they navigate the challenges and feelings they may be encountering.
In assembly this week I shared with the children how stories can be ‘empathy engines’, helping them to see the world through the eyes of others and to walk in their shoes for a time. Connecting to other perspectives can bring greater empathetic understanding. I challenged the children to train their ‘empathy superpower’ by putting on imaginary empathy glasses when they read to really think about how characters might be feeling and why. Reading stories together with your children will help them to build this understanding, equipping them to recognise feelings in themselves and others.
I often see our pupils practising giving and receiving empathy in the playground, whether that be supporting an upset peer on the friendship bench or comforting a friend who has fallen over. They often show empathy too after a sports match when the result has not gone their way and in lessons when someone shares something that has made them sad. We too need to take time to practise developing our empathy superpowers if we are to help support our children and each other. How often as parents, partners or colleagues have we found ourselves responding to those around us by trying to convince them that their situation isn't so bad, telling them you have bigger problems of your own, telling them to ‘buck up’, trying to fix their problem, changing the subject or just not knowing what to say. This is not showing empathy: these responses won’t make someone feel heard or listened to and may result in emotional difficulties remaining unresolved.
So, where to begin? Here are some tips for developing your own empathy practice:
Actively listen. Making eye contact and ensuring distractions such as mobile phones, laptops and TVs don’t prevent you from being present and the other person feeling unseen and unheard by you.
Empty your mind when listening to another person. Avoid letting your mind wander to what is for dinner or responding to a work email.
Don’t be a solution giver, solving someone's problem may seem helpful, but it is not empathetic. Simply accept and understand the feelings the person is experiencing without judging them.
Use supportive phrases such ‘That must have been really hard for you’, ‘You must be feeling very sad right now’, ‘I know what it’s like to feel this way’, ‘My goodness that must have been difficult’, ‘Boy that sounds tough’ or simply ‘I understand’. Empathetic phrases like these will help show that you recognise and understand their feelings and will help them to feel understood and supported.
Empathy for others won’t necessarily lead them to change their behaviour or fix their problem, but it does help you to be present for them and can help both parties, the giver and receiver, better navigate difficult emotions. You will start to recognise signs your empathy is having an impact with others as you start to feel more in sync with one another and an increased connection unfolds, emotions dissipate or recede, your interactions lead to a deeper closeness or understanding of each other, a real and honest conversation develops and people feel more capable because they know they're not alone. Cultivating empathy for others has certainly helped me manage challenges and support those I love and care for better.
I have no doubt we have all faced difficult times this past year, it has taken a huge mental and emotional toll on us all, but I know, instinctively, that we all thrive when we are well in every sense. So I encourage us all to take the time to really listen to each other, take a moment to think about what it would be like to be in another person's shoes and show you appreciate and understand the emotions they feel. By adopting more empathetic approaches in our daily lives, I believe we have the best chance of coming through these most challenging times together and of keeping the genuine well-being and happiness of every member of our school community at our foundation, upon which everything else will be built in the future.
I’ll leave you with this link to a great video from Professor Brene Brown which amusingly explains the difference between sympathy and empathy. https://youtu.be/1Evwgu369Jw.
Enjoy the weekend everyone and may we all keep opening our hearts to let empathy in.
Miss Walker
Posted on: 26/02/2021Weekly News - Friday 26th February 2021
Re-opening: March 8th
We are all delighted that we will be able to re-open to all pupils from Monday 8th March. We will be sending a comprehensive communication to parents next week outlining plans for the return, and with an updated risk assessment, but school operations are likely to be very similar to those we adopted during the autumn term.
All children from Ducklings to Year 6 will be required to attend in school uniform from 8th March onwards. If you need to buy uniform, Pullen's are open for Click & Collect on a Tuesday and Friday from 9.00 a.m. – 5.30 p.m. or you can order online at Uniform4Kids for delivery to your home address. If you experience delays in securing new uniform, and your child does not have suitable, properly fitting uniform to wear, then until their new uniform arrives they should wear their PE kits if they fit, or other plain clothing with trainers suitable for indoor and outdoor use.
National Empathy Week
In assembly this week we highlighted to the children in Years 1 - 6 the importance of developing their 'empathy superpower' to raise awareness of National Empathy Week. The children were encouraged to read stories to help them 'walk in another's shoes' and recognise and understand the feelings of others and emotions they may experience themselves. We have challenged the children to take action when they see someone having a difficult day, whether that be an older relative, a sibling, a parent or their friends and to use their 'empathy superpower' to be there for that person; to ask how they are doing, to listen, to not be distracted and to use magic phrases to show they understand how the person is feeling. Read Ms Walker's inspirational guest Head's blog this week to discover more about the importance of empathy for us all.
Pets And Our Wellbeing Assembly
On Monday, we welcomed Jason Cortis from The Blue Cross to our Year 1-6 virtual assembly, who gave a presentation about Pets And Our Wellbeing. We were even joined online by a few pets from pupil and staff households! We learnt how to take care of pets, how important it is to give them choices, how to ensure their wellbeing and how we can look after our own wellbeing too. Many thanks indeed to The Blue Cross for visiting virtually and delivering this talk. You can find out more about The Blue Cross and their valuable work here: https://www.bluecross.org.uk/
Nicola Cooper
We are terribly sad to pass on the news that a much-loved member of our school community, Nicola Cooper, recently passed away after living with cancer for many years. Nicola's daughter, Amanda Cooper, is currently the class teacher of 1C.
Nicola was a familiar face at our Lower School for over 20 years, and made a tremendous and very positive impact on countless children and their families. She was also an enormously valued colleague and friend to those with whom she worked. Rarely without a smile on her face, she found the joy in every situation and she had a natural desire to make life happier for all those around her. She was kind, thoughtful, selfless and, true to herself and the St. Helen's College spirit, she put family at the heart of everything she did.
Nicola's family have chosen, in her memory, to support the new Maternity Bereavement Suite at Hillingdon Hospital. Kit's Cause was a charity created after family friend Rachael and her partner Alex lost their son at 30 weeks in September 2019. The charity raised £15,000 for the new maternity bereavement suite at Hillingdon Hospital. This cause was very close to Nicola’s heart. Although very ill herself battling cancer, Nicola most recently still helped their fundraising efforts by knitting Easter chicks. This space is so important because, at the moment, mums who lose their baby have to give birth on the labour wards surrounded by other happy families. This fundraising for a separate private space is so important for families to feel safe and spend time with their babies.
If you would like to make a donation in Nicola Cooper’s memory, you can do so here:
https://www.love2donate.co.uk//inmemory/identify_name.php?currentpage=1&chosen=39540&adstate=Y
Rest in peace, Nicola.
Baby News!
Huge congratulations to Mrs. Neri and her family, who welcomed a son on 11th February at 2.31 a.m., weighing 8lbs. He was 2 weeks overdue and they have named him Harrison Peter James Heggie. As you can see, the latest addition to the St. Helen's College family is beautiful! We are looking forward to meeting him in due course.
World Book Day
On Thursday 4th March we will be celebrating World Book Day. This year's theme is 'Stories Set in Imaginary Worlds'. The children may wish to raid their dressing-up boxes for outfits and/or accessories to match this magical theme, which they should wear during their sessions at home or at school on the day.
Acclaimed children's author Ross Welford will be speaking with the children in Years 3 - 6 and the children in Nursery - Year 2 will be treated to a talk from the fantastic author and illustrator, Emily Gravett.
Details on how to order books for the children, and how to take part in our online book fair, have been sent out via SchoolsBuddy.
We are all looking forward to an exciting and educational day on Thursday and we thank you in advance for your support of the day.
Guess the Place
Well done to everyone who had a go at guessing where our places were this week. The Upper School place was the spectacular Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Many people correctly guessed the Giant's Causeway but only Aiden, Raiden, Penelope, Sean, Joseph, Grace and Tiya in Year 3, Marvin and Eshanvi in Year 4, Anjika, Oliver and Charlotte in Year 5 and Ben in Year 6 correctly placed it in Northern Ireland too.
The Lower School place last week was St. Paul's Cathedral. Congratulations to Simar, Ayush, Alexander, Riya Skye, Simrina, Evie, Alexia, Brendan and Aanya in Year 2, Alyssa, Thomas, Millie, Aakash, Riyan, Shayna, Aran, Armaan, Ella, Amara and Yuvraj in Year 1, Aaria, Aarav and Ivaan from Kingfishers, Grace and Sikhya from Robins, Arup, Arya and Eliana from Owls and Phoebe from Wrens all of whom got it right!
Parent Practice - Free 'The Big Return' Webinar
Many parents have attended talks given by Elaine Halligan of The Parent Practice here at school in the past. Some have also gone on to attend some of her online webinars.
Elaine is running a free webinar on Wednesday 3rd March (next week) from 8-9 p.m., helping to support parents as you prepare your children for the return to in-person education. If you would like to join, please click the link below for further information and to register.
FREE WEBINAR : The Big Return - preparing your children for starting (teachable.com)
Reminder: Hillingdon STARS Road Safety Competitions
The STARS Team at Hillingdon Borough Council are currently running two Road Safety Competitions.
Full details and downloadable entry forms are contained within the links below. All entries should be emailed to the STARS team by Monday 1st March which will also allow some time after the half term to enter.
KS1 Road Safety Story Book Competition (Early Years and Years 1 & 2)
The children should draw pictures to go with the pages of our new road safety book called "Captain Safety!". They can enter drawings for as many pages as they like.
KS1 Road Safety Story Book Competition.pdf
KS2 Road Safety Invention Design Competition (Years 3 - 6)
The children should come up with a new "Road Safety Invention" which could make our roads safer. They should draw the design as well as explain how the road safety invention would work and how it makes our roads safer.
KS2 Road Safety Invention Competition.pdf
All winners will be announced and contacted in March. We hope the children will have fun creating their entries!
PA Forum Meeting
We have moved the date of the next PA Forum meeting from 10th March to 24th March, to give us all time to re-adjust to the return to school before we meet. Parents are encouraged to wait until the children have been back at school for at least one full week before sending points onto class representatives. Class reps should send points for dicussion to Mrs. Smith by Monday 22nd March at the very latest please: susmith@sthelenscollege.com. We will send reminders nearer the time.
Posted on: 12/02/2021Weekly News - Friday 12th February
Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day Celebrations
It was wonderful to see so many of the children and staff dressed in red to celebrate both Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day during our Upper School assembly this morning. Many thanks indeed to Ashvika A, Eshan N and Viren C who provided musical performances on piano and violin and a special thank you to Ruby L and Joleen Z, who gave very informative and confident presentations about Chinese New Year, and to Jacob N and David W, who prepared presentations and videos to be shared with the classes in school too.
Internet Safety Day and Safe Remote Teaching Accreditation!
This week, children have been reminded about the importance of staying safe online. We would like to remind parents that there are some very useful resources available to you at National Online Safety to support you in keeping your children safe on the internet. You can even register here as a St Helen's College parent and complete short training modules, and there is a useful 'top ten tips for keeping children safe' guide available here.
We are also delighted to announce that St. Helen's College has been awarded the National Online Safety Safe Remote Education Accreditation, which recognises that the school has successfully completed a comprehensive remote education training programme, demonstrating our commitment to providing high quality remote education, keeping children and young people safe online and supporting pupil wellbeing.
The accreditation rewards our carefully planned and successful approach towards safeguarding children and supporting pupil wellbeing during remote teaching and learning.
National Online Safety is a multi-award winning digital training provider with extensive resources in online safety, developed in line with the Department of Education’s statutory requirements.
NextGen Enterprise Success
Riya C, Manisher L and Zara B (Year 6) have joined Next Gen Enterprise, and are undertaking a series of online instructor-led courses which aim to inspire and develop next generation talent. The girls have already completed the bronze level award where they successfully investigated, discussed successful businesses and brands, and then pitched their business concept in front of a live virtual panel which included successful entrepreneurs who asked questions and provided feedback. This gave them a very good insight into building a successful business and has also given a boost to their collaboration, discussion, creativity, and presentation skills.
The girls are currently in their last week of the silver award, where they have learnt about key roles within a business, e.g. sales, marketing, HR. This Sunday they are looking forward to presenting their business model via video meeting to a panel of judges and other students.
Well done girls, and many thanks for bringing this company to the school's attention. We are currently exploring ways in which we might work together to offer similar courses through the school's co-curricular programme, so watch this space! In the meantime, if any parent or pupil would like to find out more, you can take a look at the NextGen Enterprise prospectus here.
Crossing Petition Success
Last term, following a couple of 'near misses' on the Long Lane zebra crossing between Lower School and Upper School, our Year 6 Junior Road Safety Officers were determined to take action and try to reduce the speed of cars on Long Lane to make the crossing safer for our pupils, staff and parents as well as for the local community. They decided to petition the local council for a safer 'Pelican' crossing to be installed. They wrote a very persuasive letter to the local councillors and gathered support from fellow pupils by collecting names on a pupil petition. This was then supported by a staff petition and letter from Mrs. Drummond too.
All the information was submitted through the council's Democratic Services for consideration. On Wednesday this week, Mrs. Drummond and Miss Walker attended a virtual council meeting where the petition was considered. The councillors were very impressed by our JRSO submission, which made a compelling case, and the strong partnership the school has developed with the council's Road Safety and STARS team over recent years. We are absolutely delighted to announce there was unanimous support from all of the councillors attending the meeting for the installation of immediate safety improvement measures on and around the crossing on Long Lane and a commitment to pursuing the installation of a pelican crossing with Transport for London over the coming year.
As a measure of the council's support and undertaking to improve safety for the St. Helen's College community, they have acted swiftly, installing brighter, more eye catching 'Zebrite' beacons on the crossing today, within 48 hours! Over the coming weeks we will be working with the Road Safety team on their proposed installation of the 'Vehicular Activated Signs' this summer. These activate when vehicles are approaching a crossing at speed and highlight a school is nearby, so they should certainly help to reduce the speed of traffic around our school sites.
We will be working in partnership with councillors and the Road Safety team over the coming months to secure Transport for London approval for the installation of a pelican crossing and we will keep you updated on the progress of this. It is a credit to our pupils that they led the way on this road safety action project. Their understanding of the British value of democracy and the mechanisms for having a voice in local democracy were the catalysts for this significant achievement, which we know will improve the lives and safety of our whole school community. Many congratulations to our JRSO team: Jena, Fredericka, Jessica, Vidhit, Samir, Manisher and Georgia.
Guess the Place
It has been another exciting week trying to Guess our Places in our photo challenges. Many congratulations to the 32 children from Lower School and Year 2, who correctly guessed their place was the The Penguin Pool at London Zoo. Many of you mentioned you had been there - let's hope we will be able to visit all the animals again soon.
The Year 3 - 6 photo was a little more challenging this week. Some people guessed it was Oxford, 45 people correctly guessed it was Oxford University but well done to our super geography detectives this week who guessed it was All Souls College, Oxford. These were Tiya, Aleyna, Sean and Joseph in Year 3, Poppy in Year 4 and Anjika in Year 5. There will be half term Guess the Place photos posted later today so you can all keep exploring parts of London and the UK.
London Youth Games Virtual Competition
Many of our Year 3 - 6 pupils have continued to take part in the London Youth Games virtual fitness challenges this term. Last week they took part in a Jumping Jacks challenge and this week they have competed in the Shuttle Run challenge. Through their efforts and those of pupils in other Hillingdon schools, the borough team is creeping up the London Youth Games leader board.
We are delighted to award some of our pupils with a special London Youth Games Fitness Challenge certificate for participating in all four challenges this term. Many congratulations to Anika, Riya S and Hana in Year 3, Anjika, Sahib, David and Riddhi in Year 5 and Samir and Pavitar in Year 6. The challenges will continue after half term, when we hope to see even more pupils taking part.
Special Pet Assembly
On Monday 22nd February at 8.30 a.m. we will be joined by a special guest from the Blue Cross organisation in our special assembly for Years 1 - 6. Be sure to join us with your pets if you have any to find out how to look after pets and t consider 'pets and our wellbeing', a reminder of the things humans and animals all need to stay healthy and happy.
Ducklings/Nursery/Reception Parents' Evenings
Video consultations for parents of Ducklings, Nursery and Reception parents will take place on Thursday 4th March and Tuesday 9th March. Bookings will open at 3 p.m. today. Please follow the link below to book your appointment. Appointments are allocated on a first come, first served basis.
https://sthelens.schoolcloud.co.uk/
Ducklings Entry - September 2021
We now have just a few places left for Ducklings entry in September 2021. If you have any friends or family with a child who was born between 01.09.18 and 31.08.19, please let them know that they will need to register their child as soon as possible now in order to be considered for entry.
Online Open Morning - Friday 26th February 2021 at 10.00 a.m.
Under the present restrictions, we are sadly still unable to show prospective parents around at the school. At the end of the first week back after half term, we will be holding our next Online Open Morning for prospective parents. If you have any friends or family who might be interested in St. Helen's College for their child/ren, please do encourage them to register for this virtual open morning and attend on Friday 26th, to find out all about the school. Mrs. Drummond, Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Smith will be hosting the event. The registration link is here - please do share far and wide - many thanks indeed for your support!
Speech Competition
This week the children have been given their pieces for this year's Speech Competition. It will be an online event again this year and another opportunity for the children to hone their public speaking and performance skills.
The first rounds of the competition will take place in the week after the half-term break with the junior (Year 1-3) and senior (Year 4-6) finals taking place on Monday, March 22nd. Form teachers will give out more information as the competition progresses. The judging criteria are: expression, projection and clarity. The entries will be performed live (with the exception of the final) and should not be accompanied by gestures or choreography.
It is always a fun and exciting event on the St. Helen's College calendar and we are sure that we will be blown away by another raft of impressive performances again this year. Good luck to all the children - have fun learning and reciting your pieces!
Perform Half Term Drama Workshops
Perform, who visit St. Helen's College regularly to deliver workshops for children, are running February half term drama workshops online for Reception to Year 6 aged children.
For one hour each day, Perform's warm and friendly team of theatre professionals will inspire and encourage the children as they combine drama, dance and singing into a magical experience. They'll encourage them to project their voices, learn energetic dance routines, sing catchy songs and develop the Perform 4 Cs: Confidence, Concentration, Communication and Coordination. The course costs £60 for the 5 days.
If you are interested, you can read all about the classes and sign up here: https://www.perform.org.uk/classes-courses/holiday-courses/fe2021.
Hillingdon STARS Road Safety Competitions
The STARS Team at Hillingdon Borough Council will be running two Road Safety Competitions over the February half term.
Full details and downloadable entry forms are contained within the links below. All entries should be emailed to the STARS team by Monday 1st March which will also allow some time after the half term to enter.
KS1 Road Safety Story Book Competition (Early Years and Years 1 & 2)
The children should draw pictures to go with the pages of our new road safety book called "Captain Safety!". They can enter drawings for as many pages as they like.
KS1 Road Safety Story Book Competition.pdf
KS2 Road Safety Invention Design Competition (Years 3 - 6)
The children should come up with a new "Road Safety Invention" which could make our roads safer. They should draw the design as well as explain how the road safety invention would work and how it makes our roads safer.
KS2 Road Safety Invention Competition.pdf
All winners will be announced and contacted in March. We hope the children will have fun creating their entries!
Colne Valley Art Competition
Budding young artists might also like to take part in the Colne Valley Park Art Competition. The theme of the competition is: My visit to the Colne Valley Park. The Colne Valley Park stretches from Rickmansworth in the north to Staines and the Thames in the south, and from Uxbridge and Heathrow in the east to Slough and Chalfont St Peter in the west. Children's artwork can be of anywhere in the Colne Valley Park or something they like doing when they visit the Colne Valley Park. There are two age groups categories:
Ages 7-9 years
Ages 10-12 years
Each participant must live in or near the Colne Valley Regional Park. Only one entry per child can be submitted. Artwork must be between A4 and A3 in size and children may use any type of art, household or natural materials. There are prizes including:
£50 art voucher for first prize from each age group category
£40 art voucher second prize from each age group category
£30 art voucher third prize from each age group category
In addition, all entries will be displayed in the exhibition gallery on the Colne Valley Park website.
How to submit entries:
Take a photo of artwork
Email photo to Artcompetition@groundwork.org.uk with Subject TASGX Children’s Art Competition
Please include details of where you live – town, village, suburb, whether in the Colne Valley Park or near it (this will not be included in Gallery credit)
Provide the following information to be included in the Gallery Exhibition
First name of artist
Age of artist
Location of visit
Why did you choose this visit
Full details can be found here.
Competition winners will be notified at the end of April 2021 via email...happy creating!
Oak Farm Library
Oak Farm Library has recently undergone a refurbishment and is now back open to the public. This is a fantastic local resource and we urge all parents to make use of the library regularly with your children, to support and encourage a love of reading.
The library is open Monday to Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and Saturday from 9.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. (closed for lunch from 1.00 - 2.00 p.m.). Due to the current lockdown restrictions, it is operating as a closed door, reserve and collect service. The library's many wider resources/services include:
Reserve and Collect - parents and children are still able to search and reserve books, either online or by telephoning the branch. Staff will then contact readers when their books are available for collection. All returned books are quarantined for 72 hours and collection takes place at the front door to maintain safe distancing. Not yet a member? You can always join up here.
Follow the library on social media - keep up to date with events and service updates on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram. The library is currently running a packed events programme for Heart Month to promote mental and physical wellbeing in the community.
Bookstart - parents and families can still collect Book Start baby packs (babies up to 1 years) and Treasure Packs (3 years +) at the front of the library.
Tiny Tales (online children's Storytime's) - the library continues to deliver several online Storytimes a week. This is a great way for children to stay in touch and have fun during lockdown.
Reading Well - a collection of books specifically designed to support residents into improved wellbeing.
There are also dozens of Online Resources which can be accessed from home by all LBH library members:
Borrowbox - thousands of e-books and audiobook titles for parents and children to enjoy, on your own devices at home. All you need to do is access Borrowbox through the Hillingdon Libraries website and create an account using your library card number. Once you've created an account you can then download the app on your preferred device and start borrowing.
RB Digital - an expansive collection of digital magazines, audio books, and ebooks awaits you! Whether you are on the go or at home, there are plenty to enjoy.
Ziptales - a place for children to enjoy a wealth of interactive stories, lessons, and fun activities, from Nursery age to Key Stage 2.
Brittanica Junior - A fantastic place for young curious minds to explore the world around them, for fun or educational reasons.
Brittanica Student - A curriculum guided encyclopaedia tailored especially for enquiring secondary school age children.
Posted on: 12/02/2021Pandemic Parenting
As we enter this half term break, I want to congratulate every parent in our community and every member of staff who has supported the children through what has been the most unforgettable period of our lives, and one which we most certainly would never have imagined this time last year. For Heads, the winter months of school always bring that element of wondering if we might need to prepare for a snow day! Do staff need to be alerted that we may need to be sending work home for a day or two if school needs to close? Well, this pandemic has seen the school reach new heights as we have adapted and responded to provide what we feel to be the best education possible for your children under these circumstances.
St. Helen's College parents have been phenomenal in the support you have given the school and your children. This week I read a blog from Elaine at the Parent Practice which really resonated with me. Her words neatly encompass what I would like to say to you all today, so instead of re-inventing the wheel I will share her words below. You may remember that I had asked parents for feedback after attending any of Elaine's webinars, and I am delighted to be able to share the reflections of one of our Year 5 parents below too.
I wish you all a restful half term - and I have hope that it may not be too long before we are able to welcome the children back to school.
Mrs. Drummond
Extract from Elaine’s blog:
Are you practising being a ‘good enough’ parent just now?
It's unrealistic to think you can do an eight hour working day whilst looking after kids and do home schooling. Something has to give. It's unrealistic to think you can be head chef, entertainment director, laundress, school teacher, employee, counsellor and coach and say “I’m ok” and don’t take time for yourself.
We all need to give up the perils of perfectionism, as perfectionism is unachievable. It’s a myth - it’s about us being obsessed with what others will think of us. We need to give ourselves a break. Your biggest priority just now as a parent is to keep stress levels down, so if home schooling is causing untold angst and stress for everyone, you have permission to ditch it or differentiate the curriculum. The reality is that children’s brains cannot absorb academic work if they are stressed, as cortisol interferes with the brain’s higher function, so please parents lower your expectations and practise being a good enough parent.
My other big concern is with this determination that our children ‘keep up’ and return to school not being too far behind in their studies. The reality is, this pandemic is rewriting history.
What your children will have learnt over the past 12 months way exceeds traditional measures of educational success. They may have had to deal with grief, with the death of a loved one; with loneliness and being separated from their friends, and they have almost certainly had to deal with boredom having had their freedom taken away from them. We simply have to adjust our expectations and most importantly, we need to know how to listen to our children, validate their feelings, and let them tell their story.
My final message is you can't pour from an empty cup, so think of yourselves as an emotional bank account - if you don’t make deposits, you can’t make withdrawals. You need to replenish the resource that you are, for your family.
From a Year 5 parent:
2020 was a year that changed so many things for everyone worldwide. We all made sacrifices that most of us took for granted. We couldn’t see our family and friends, we couldn’t hug our elderly parents and grandparents, most of us cancelled our holidays abroad, we couldn’t just pop to the shops as most of us had to queue outside for long periods and our children had to learn how to ‘work from home’.
I had heard about The Parent Practice website through our school, and although I had signed up for their newsletters, I had never attended a course. I decided to sign up to a webinar and give this a go. After all, I had more time on my hands during lockdown! Within five minutes, Elaine seemed to describe both my children in one sentence and I was totally engaged for the rest of the webinar. She gave simple and good advice and shared her own parenting experience.
The advice she gives works for primary school children and teenagers and gives parents ideas on how to ‘connect’ with their children. Do we connect with them how they want us to? My older son has always been described as the calm and quiet one, who was happy to work from home and be in his own company, whereas his brother missed his friends tremendously and couldn’t wait to get back to school and be in a classroom with his teachers and friends. Total opposites, but both totally normal.
Elaine gives simple advice on how to handle parenting in a more positive way, to help parents work with their children and bring out the best in them. As adults we are all different and this applies to children too. If something works for one child, it won’t necessarily work for another. Elaine provides advice on how we can do this by making simple changes. She talks about descriptive praise. Don’t say well done for getting 10/10 in a maths test, praise the effort they made to try to achieve the goal. If they didn’t hit the mark, it’s ok. They have still learnt something along the way. I remember saying this very often to my son, while he was preparing for his 11+. I could see the hard work and effort that he was making to try his best, and that was good enough. She teaches parents not to generalise praise, be specific with it. She talks about a golden book for each child, which you write things down that you have noticed that is done well, as we often point out when something has not gone well, and forget to praise what has. This gives children a belief that they are loved and accepted for who they are and not for who they are expected to be. She recommends that we use this for teenagers too. Even if the teenager is not openly thanking us for the recognition, they have read what we notice and what we think and that’s the most important thing. She suggests we play video games with our children or talk to them about a subject that interests them and help us connect to them. If we connect with our children, they will share their worries and anxieties with us. All these things seem quite obvious, but sometimes get forgotten as we all become set in our ways and busy trying to get through our day, and ready for the next. Elaine explains that we can be firm but fair and by becoming a fairer parent, it helps us to work with our children in a constructive way.
I have attended two webinars and they have both been useful. There is an opportunity to post comments in the chat box during the webinar and there is time at the end for Q&A. Parents can access the webinar for a certain period of time afterwards to watch the webinar back.
So would I recommend The Parent Practice website? Yes I would and I plan to attend more courses again in the future too.
I think of parenting as a wonderful gift and if we can take one positive from our experience with this awful pandemic, is that time is very precious, so we should make the most of it with the little people that matter the most to us.
Posted on: 5/02/2021Weekly News - Friday 5th February 2021
Guess the Place
Well done to everyone who had a go at guessing where our places were this week. The Upper School place was quite tricky to guess so well done to those who guessed it was in the county of Devon, but special congratulations to Tiya, Joseph, Sarab, Grace and Sean in Year 3, Oliver in Year 4, Riddhi, Anjika, Charlotte and Oliver in Year 5 and Samir in Year 6, who all identified the place as the seaside town of Dawlish in Devon.
Many people correctly guessed that the Lower School place was Buckingham Palace, home to our Queen, Elizabeth I. Congratulations to Phoebe, Ishani and Sikhya from Nursery, Saffron, Eleanor, Alicia, Arup, Nihaal, Aaria, Simran and Aarav in Reception, Rania, Ella, Yuvraj, Millie, Caitlin, Armaan, Aakash, Shayla, Shayna, Riyan, Amara and Alyssia from Year 1 and Inaaya, Simar, Ayush, Evie, Alexia, Simrina, Riya Skye, Alexander, Aaran, Ashvika and Armaan in Year 2, all of whom got it right!
London Youth Games Virtual Fitness Challenge
It was a Russian Twist challenge last week that our pupils took part in to contribute to the Hillingdon Borough team's efforts in the London Youth Games competition. Well done to David from Y5/6 and Hana from Y3/4 who were the twisting king and queen this week. Hillingdon were placed in 18th place after the Russian Twist round of the competition, but only 5 more pupils from our school taking part would have put Hillingdon in the top 5 boroughs, so we hope lots more of our pupils in Years 3 - 6 will take on next week's Shuttle Runs challenge. This will be posted on Monday in the Year 3 - 6 PE Google classrooms.
A Gift for the Queen
Year 2 wowed Mrs. Pruce on Tuesday morning as they attended their lessons wearing crowns and tiaras as they embraced their lessons on portraiture study. The portraiture of the Queen was absolutely outstanding and we will be sending copies to Her Majesty to cheer up her lockdown experience. We will keep you posted if we have a response! Well done Year 2!
Year 4 Music - Storm Responses
You might like to see this video, which Mrs. Fawbert has created to show Year 4's incredible responses to "Storm" from Benjamin Britten's opera "Peter Grimes". The students were challenged to create their own artistic and poetic responses to the music whilst listening to it. Well done, Year 4!
Dress to Express
It was wonderful to see such an expression of individuality from the children in assembly today as they dressed to express themselves as part of Children's Mental Health Week. Maya T in Year 6 also prepared a lovely video to remind us of how important it is to express ourselves. You can see her video here.
Sea Shanty Fun
We had fun in assembly today as we investigated sea shanties and looked at how and why they have recently become so popular on social media! The children were astonished when a mystery guest joined our online assembly - Chris Stark from Radio 1, who is currently at the top of the charts with his own sea shanty remix! Chris spoke to the children about having ideas and making them reality and it was clear that they were inspired by his message. We all joined in with some body percussion along to a sea shanty and we have challenged the children to contribute to a school sea shanty, which Mrs. Fawbert will put together for us.
For those children who feel inspired to have a go at making their own Sea Shanty contribution at home, please find some lyrics and ideas here and the instrumental parts here.
You can see the full assembly here.
School Reports
Pupils from Year 1 - Year 6 will be receiving their school reports next week. I am sure that you will find them interesting and insightful. As many of you are aware, we focus on 'Habits of Learning' for each subject in the belief that teachers facilitate the learning but we encourage the learning to come from within the child. We work hard to develop these 'habits' which should lead to successful, curious and creative learners:
- organisation and readiness
- independent work
- homework
- collaboration
- initiative and resourcefulness
- self-discipline
It is with home and school working together with the same aims that your children will fully benefit from what we offer at St. Helen's College. I wonder if, as adults, we could take these 'habits of learning' and apply them to our own work life!
The teachers have surpassed expectations this term whilst delivering remote learning and being able to produce such helpful reports.
The Parent Practice
Many of you may remember Elaine Halligan who visited us last year and ran a superb parenting workshop. Elaine has now developed her company and has launched a new website and is offering some superb courses and workshops for parents. Please do take a look at her now offerings here. Please let us know if any of you sign up for any of her sessions - we would love to hear your feedback.
Half Term Activities
Mini Monets Art Club still have a few places left for their popular half term Zoom art activities. If you have a budding young artist you might like to sign them up for a week of artistic fun which includes creating a t-shirt and pottery making! You can find the full details here.
ComputerXplorers will be running two clubs over the February half term which might be of interest to children aged 8 and over: Roblox Game Design and Kodu 3D Game Design.
ROBLOX Game Design
Learn to design your very own game using Roblox Studio, encouraging your child to power their imagination and explore the endless possibilities that come from games design. The sessions begin with your child setting up a project with Roblox Studio and continue with them designing all elements of the game. Click on the link below to register.
https://middlesex.computerxplorers.co.uk/classes/roblox-game-design-class
KODU 3D Game Design
Students will use Kodu, a graphical programming environment, to design and build games. They will then create a range of terrains, worlds and characters, controlling the characters' movement, sound and vision using an intuitive, icon-based programming language. Click on the link below to register.
https://middlesex.computerxplorers.co.uk/classes/kodu-game-design-class
Posted on: 5/02/2021It's Good To Talk by Mrs. Hunt
Many of you who know me well will know that I am a great talker! On reading an email my instinct is always to pick up the phone or arrange a meeting. Often, when writing, I find it hard to express myself or I will be anxious that my words might be taken in an unintended way.
It is a well known fact that early years children need to talk, talk and talk some more! This is how they make sense of the world around them. We, as their adults, listen and respond appropriately and, in doing so, we play an amazing part in their development.
We are living through times when the importance of talking and sharing our feelings is even more crucial. From the very young to the very old, speaking and being truly listened to makes us feel valued and worthwhile.
Recently, being rather wrapped up in my school work, I seemed to have forgotten my need to talk. This was made very evident to me when my daughter, who is currently living at home unable to return to university, asked me to take my eyes off the computer and tell her if I was OK! What followed was a wonderful few minutes of us reconnecting. It was therapeutic, calming and very worthwhile.
I have taught for many years and I have never tired of listening to children; they are honest, thoughtful, wise and often very amusing. When showing visitors around the school I often get asked about Philosophy For Children (P4C) and how it can possibly work in children so young. The facts are, that if you genuinely show an interest in what children have to say, they are always ready to tell you!
I have no desire to preach or indeed state the obvious but, as we continue through Children's Mental Health Week, I feel it is timely to remind us all to stop and take time for each other: to listen and to be heard.
Take care.
Mrs. Hunt
Category / All Articles
Categories
Archive
