School News and Head's Blog
Posted on: 6/09/2019Welcome Back! - Head's Blog
Welcome back to all of our returning families and to our new families who have joined our wonderful community: welcome!
I am sure that you have all had a super summer. I have had an incredible summer, relaxing, resting and socialising with family and friends but there is only so much of this ‘non-routine’ that I can take! I admit, I was so ready to come back to school to be energised by the buzz of enquiring minds and the energy of our pupils, staff and parents.
I am sure that you will agree that the children have embraced the new school year across the school. From our fledgling Ducklings to our new Year 6 pupils, there is an almost tangible sense of joie de vivre.
As the children settle into their new routines, I have observed and overheard them discussing the ‘Golden Rules’ of working together as a community, writing and signing classroom pledges and agreeing how they can be their best selves. Our informal school motto:
‘Strive for excellence
Help others achieve
Care for each other’
resonates around the school, along with our ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ behaviour mantra. Your children are amazing and I feel truly blessed to witness their awe and wonder each and every day.
As your children embark upon their new academic year, I would like to share with you all extracts from an article I recently read in Attain magazine to help you all settle into the school year. I have slightly altered the order but strongly recommend that you read the full article to give greater context!
10 Golden Rules for Parents
Do read a bedtime story to your child every night (or hear them read every night as they move up through the school).
Do teach your child to be independent.
Do play games with your child (as often as possible) and teach them how to lose gracefully; this will also spark their creativity and help their concentration.
Do read everything the school sends to you.
Do be proud of everything your child brings home and wow at it no matter how huge, hideous, or unrecognisable it may be.
Do not compete with other parents about who has the most accomplished child.
Do not take your child out of school early at the end of term or return late at the beginning of term.
Do respect and believe what the teachers say about your child, and communicate with your form teacher if you have any concerns (it is teamwork that will bring out the best in your children).
Do set a good example in phone etiquette.
Don't feel the need to invite everyone to your child's birthday party (this may be difficult in Lower School but gets increasingly easier as the children get older!)
The full article may be read here https://digital.attain.education/.
We look forward to yet another successful and joyful academic year with your children at the centre of our focus!
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 6/09/2019Weekly News - Friday 6th September 2019
St. Helen's College Gains Gold Travel Award
We are thrilled that, having reviewed our School Travel and Road Safety (STARS) Accreditation, Transport for London (TfL) have awarded St. Helen's College a Gold STARS award this year!
To achieve Gold, St. Helen's College had to be judged to be among the top 10% of London schools, setting high standards to inspire others to transform travel habits, fully engaging the wider community to promote best practices and proving a measurable reduction in the number of journeys made by car every day.
The school had to provide evidence that, within three academic years, we had completed 25 different travel activities, 15 supporting activities and 8 consultation activities. We also had to demonstrate at least a 6% modal shift away from the car or at least 90% of pupils travelling actively to/from school.
This accolade recognises all of the hard work being done at school and in the community, led by our pupil Mini and Junior Road Safety Officers and our staff School Travel Champions, to improve sustainable travel and road safety in and around our school. The school's 'drop and go' schemes, bike/scooter parks, pedestrian and Bikeability courses, Walk on Wednesday initiative and walking loyalty scheme, as well as the Parent Parking Pledge and our 'Speed Aware' scheme run in partnership with local police, are all initiatives driven by the school community which are helping to reduce traffic and promote road safety in our local area. This really is a partnership between staff, parents, pupils and the wider community and we are grateful to everyone involved. As a community, we should feel very proud of this award recognising all that we are doing to improve our local environment for all.
School Games Platinum Award
We are absolutely delighted to announce that St. Helen's College has achieved the School Games PLATINUM Mark Award for the 2018/19 and 2019/2020 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme, launched in 2012 and facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, which rewards schools for their commitment to the development of participation in physical activity and competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success in providing opportunities for competitive and non-competitive sport and young leadership.
We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible. As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded with this award. We look forward to applying once again in 2020!
Relay for Life 2019
Thank you so much to all parents, pupils and staff who supported the Cancer Research Relay for Life this year, donating, participating in fundraising activities and joining the St. Helen's College team for the Relay itself. Our team raised an amazing £4,025.81 in total, which was the second highest total raised by a team. We are very proud of our ongoing commitment to this event and to raising money for Cancer Research.
Charity Walk
On Sunday 1st September, Mrs. Cheema (mother of Amar and Suraj, Old Helenians who left us in 2019 and 2016) organised a 12 hour long charity walk at Hillingdon Stadium to raise awareness of bile duct cancer and to raise much needed funds for the charity AMMF, which is the UK's only charity for Cholangiocarcinoma.
Over 150 people participated throughout the day, many of whom were St. Helen's College families and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended or donated to the charity. You can read Mrs. Cheema's inspiring blog at
https://mybeautifullife.org/2019/09/03/walkathon-best-day-ever/
Celebrating Success
So many of our pupils achieve great things both inside and outside of school. We have numerous pupils who are selected for high calibre sports teams, including cricket, football, chess and athletics, and our musicians share their talents in many areas too. Aarna (Year 6) recently played at the prestigious Cadogan Hall with the Hillingdon Music Hub and Catherine (Year 6) plays flute with the National Children’s Orchestra (NCO) and has now been awarded a place to study music every Saturday at the Royal College of Music. Please do continue to share your children's successes with us as it is important that we are aware of their all round achievements.
Prizegiving 2019
We look forward to seeing our Year 6 leavers next week and many current families at our annual Prizegiving at the Winston Churchill Hall in Ruislip on Thursday evening.
Summer Schools 2019
Once again this year we ran two extremely successful Summer School weeks in August (in addition to our Holiday Club which ran throughout the summer holidays and was very well attended).
At Lower School Summer School, the theme was Around The World. The activities focussed on different parts of the world, with a different country being 'visited' each day. Children took part in a variety of arts & crafts activities and indoor and outdoor play, all linking to this geographical theme.
At Upper School Summer School, held at Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre, the children took part in a 'Pirates and Bucanneers' themed week, enjoying sailing, kayaking, dragon boating and other water activities, which often culminated in the children jumping joyfully into the lake! They also took part in land activities, including climbing and abseiling, the commando challenge, pedal karting and pond dipping, all using the wonderful facilities available at HOAC.
You can see photographs of the children enjoying themselves on the Galleries page.
PA Welcome Event For New Parents
The PA Welcome Event for parents who are new to the school will take place next Saturday, 14th September, from 12 to 2 p.m. in The Evans Hall. We hope to see all our new families there!
STEAM Day - Friday 20th September
Preparations are well underway for our exciting STEAM Day on Friday 20th September. Thank you to all staff and parents who have offered to run or assist with the workshops. If there are any Upper School parents who would still like to assist, please email Mr. Tovell at dtovell@sthelenscollege.com.
School at Work Open Morning - Wednesday 16th October
Our next School at Work Open Morning will take place on Wednesday 16th October, when we will be welcoming groups of prospective parents to look around the school. In the past, existing parents have been very helpful in displaying posters to promote Open Morning in places of business, homes or cars, and in passing on flyers to any interested friends, relatives or neighbours. We are sending home a couple of flyers/posters for each family today in the hope that you will help to promote this event for us once again. We thank you in advance for your help and please do let us know if you can make use of any more posters or leaflets.
School Magazine - 2018-2019
We hope that you all enjoyed reading the new annual school magazine which was sent home to each family on the last day of the summer term. If your child was absent on the last day of term and you have not yet received your copy, it should have been sent home with them this week.
If any parent would like to purchase extra copies of the magazine, it is possible to do this at a cost of £12 per copy. Please pop in to see Mrs. Rooney at Lower School or Mrs. Smith at Upper School as soon as possible if you would like to buy a copy. Payment for these should be made in cash.
Posted on: 12/07/2019End of Year Wishes - Head's Blog
It is always a very poignant day when we end the academic year. It is a time to celebrate all the wonderful achievements of the children and to give thanks to all the parents and staff who support the children each and every day.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and relaxing summer and leave you with these words:
An Ode to Our Leavers – Shall I Compare Thee?
Shall I compare thee, Year 6, to the mighty oak tree?
You have grown through resilience, respect, determination.
You have absorbed - not water - but knowledge and values;
Rooted in love and harmony, the deepest foundation.
Your growth has been unique in so very many ways,
You branch out with qualities so rich to admire,
St. Helen’s College has hosted your formative days,
Too soon cometh, alas, the hour you must retire.
Please continue to grow tall and stretch your branches to the sky –
Spreading values and virtues outwards, reaching far, reaching high.
Posted on: 12/07/2019Weekly News - Friday 12th July 2019
Romeo and Juliet
What amazing performances our Year 6 children gave last week when they presented their grand musical performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at The Compass Theatre, Ickenham. Without exception, the pupils rose to the challenges of acting, dancing, inhabiting characters and delivering lots of dialogue with real sophistication, empathy and humour. We are very proud of them all and know that they will remember these performances for a lifetime.
You can see lots more photographs of the production on the Galleries page.
St. Helen's Day 2019
We enjoyed celebrating St. Helen's Day on Wednesday in many ways. Upper School pupils gathered in the Windsor Garden for an afternoon assembly, led by Mr. and Mrs. Crehan. Mrs. Crehan spoke to the children about why we celebrate this special day, and about the history of the school, before Mr. Crehan shared the story of St. Helen herself with the children. We finished by singing the St. Helen song and, finally, the school song, 'St. Helen's College For Evermore!'. Mrs. Crehan taught all of the Upper School children how to sing the harmony in the final chorus too!
In the evening, we held a drinks reception for our leaving Year 6 parents and parents who have contributed to the school as members of the PA committee or as class reps this year. We were also joined by staff, ex-staff and some of our alumni to celebrate all that makes our school such a unique and happy place.
Miss Dear has made a lovely montage entitled 'A Year In The Life of St. Helen's College', which you can see by following this link:
https://animoto.com/play/9kg8hg59p9ycuaxX3m0SJQ
Year 6 Projects
What an incredible array of independent projects by our Year 6 children were on display on Thursday morning. You can see photographs of some of the projects on our Galleries page.
Music Personality of the Term
Congratulations to Aarna A, who has been recognised for her outstanding effort, commitment, dedication and achievement within the music department by being awarded Music Personality of the Term.
Aarna has always worked conscientiously and demonstrated enormous enthusiasm over several years, in all aspects of music at St Helen’s College. She has excellent music skills and applies and shares creative ideas successfully in class work, as well as being an excellent role model within the music department.
She has been a regular member of the Junior and Senior Choirs and has recently become a member of the Chamber Choir. Aarna plays the recorder fluently and with an enriched tone, and plays with the Recorder Club. She has also been a loyal member of the school orchestra over the last two years.
Aarna has exceptional musical talent. She has recently achieved her Grade 5 theory exam and plays the flute to Grade 6 level. Her most recent achievement has been to play with a band of musicians from the Hillingdon Hub at London’s Cadogan Hall.
Very well done, Aarna!
Sports Personality of the Term
Many congratulations to Hebe E, who has been named the Sports Personality of the summer term.
Hebe has represented the school in many sports and always works hard to contribute to team success. She was a part of the athletics team who won bronze medals at District Sports and the tennis team who represented Hillingdon at the London Youth Games School Games finals this term. She regularly competes in regional competitions in the South of England and has achieved personal best times in four sprint events this season.
Hebe has also shown great resilience in dealing with injury this term and should be commended for her perseverance and determination. Well done, Hebe!
Minimus Mythology Competition 2019
Well done to all who took part in the Mythology Competition recently and in particular to Ridhima M, who won second prize nationally for her beautiful pop-up book representation of the story of King Midas! Ridhima was commended by the judges for her excellent use of colour and detail and for the sophisticated vocabulary used in her narrative. Congratulations also go to Uma D who, although not awarded a major prize, was commended for her use of music and lyrics in the original song she wrote and recorded for the competition.
Year 1 Trip to Mad Bess Woods (Mrs. Hunt's house!)
The weather was very kind to Year 1 on Thursday as they visited Mrs. Hunt's house and the surrounding woodland and carried out some scientific exploration in beautiful surroundings. This is always a highlight of the Year 1 programme and this year's trip did not disappoint!
Nursery End of Year Summer Party
Our Nursery children enjoyed an end of year summer party this week to celebrate the end of a very successful Nursery year! We look forward to welcoming them back in their blazers as they join Reception in September.
Sports News
The Championships Wimbledon
On Monday the Year 5 and 6 tennis team who won the Borough tennis competition and reached the London Youth Games finals earlier this term had a wonderful day at The Championships, Wimbledon. They toured the grounds, visited centre court and court No 1, sat on Henman Hill, watched some great tennis on Court No 2 and even sampled some strawberries and cream. Our keen tennis players thoroughly enjoyed themselves and developed their understanding and appreciation of tennis greatly, becoming experts who even got interviewed by Radio Wimbledon!
The Championships St. Helen's College!
On Tuesday the finals of the school tennis championships took place with pupils from Year 3 to Y6 taking part. The tennis was of a good standard and all the matches were close and very exciting to watch. Well done to everyone who reached the finals having played many matches to get their against their peers and many congratulations to our 2019 champions. There are photographs on the Galleries page.
The winners were:
Year 3
Winner: Luka K, Runner Up Rivan K
Winner Layla O, Runner Up Amber P
Year 4
Winner Samir H, Runner Up Arsal S
Winner Fredericka, Runner Up Amar C
Year 5
Winner Patrick E, Runner Up Daniel G-J
Winner Catherine L, Runner Up Krisha S
Year 6
Winner Rishi S-P, Runner Up Alex S
Winner Aaria K, Runner Up Tamara A
Cricket
Following the bad weather in June and the cancellation of the borough cricket competition this year, a friendly match was organised against Oak Farm School on Wednesday. The children have been inspired by the World Cup currently being played and showed some great play. Well done to all those involved: Adi S, Rishi S-P, Anish A, Keaton P, Daniel G-J, Sulaiman M, Arsal S, Aditya S, Vidhit N and Krishav P.
Staff v Pupils Annual Rounders Challenge
This year's Staff v. Pupils rounders event was keenly contested, with our Year 5 and 6 teams buoyant from their recent success in the district tournament. The staff team limbered up without injuring themselves and were then ready to take on the pupils. The staff team played the B team first and won 8.5 rounders to 4.5 rounders. However, with some impressive fielding and magnificent striking of the ball, the A team were able to turn the tables to beat the staff team 9.5 rounders to 4. This was the first time the pupils had won in several years, much to the delight of all the pupils watching and cheering on! The games were all played in a very good spirit and it was a fantastic way to finish the sporting year at school.
Pupil Leadership Team
Many thanks to our retiring Pupil Leadership Team, who have done an outstanding job over the year. We are delighted to announce the new Pupil Leadership Team who will be in post from September:
Head Girl - Catherine L
Head Boy - Anish A
Deputy Head Girl - Ridhima M
Deputy Head Boy - Ciaran R
STEAM Day 2019
We are delighted to announce that our annual STEAM Day, which focuses on being creative and collaborative learners, is to be held on Friday 20th September this year.
It really was a wonderful day last year, and one that which was made even better by the high levels of parental involvement. Therefore, we are asking once again for any volunteers who may wish to assist with an activity on the day, or, better still, run their own workshop for the day. Part of what makes St. Helen's College so special is the high levels of parental involvement, so please do offer to help if you can by emailing Mr. Tovell directly at dtovell@sthelenscollege.com (for Upper School) or Mrs. Hunt at lhunt@sthelenscollege.com (for Lower School).
Relay for Life
We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who has already donated to our fundraising efforts for Cancer Research Relay for Life, and to all those who have contributed to all the fundraising events in school.
The children particularly enjoyed soaking their teachers at both Upper and Lower School!
If anyone would still like to join our team or make a donation, you can do so by following this link. Our team name is St. Helen's College.
The St. Helen's College team will also be running a raffle at the Cancer Research Relay for Life and would appreciate any raffle prizes you or your company may be able to donate. Any prizes would be most welcome indeed and we are particularly hoping that we may be able to offer experiences, restaurant vouchers etc. as grand prizes! If you are able to donate something please email Mrs. McLaughlin directly at pmclaughlin@sthelenscollege.com.
Funtasia Lower School Party
The children attending Funtasia at Lower School on Tuesday had a party to say goodbye to the Year 1 children who will be moving across to Upper School to join Year 2 in September. Chef Soula kindly provided pizza and the children brought their own clothes and had LOTS of fun!
Staff Achievements
Congratulations to Mr. Bustard for completing his first year as a newly qualified teacher - It has been wonderful to have a homegrown teacher here at St. Helen's College.
Congratulations also to Mr. Dyson who has been working incredibly hard this year to achieve the Level 5 Certificate in Primary PE Leadership.
Message from the PA
The PA would like to wish the Year 6 leavers the best of luck in their transition to senior school. We are certain that they will thrive following the strong foundations set at St. Helen's. As a farewell, the PA provided bespoke hoodies for all the leavers and a cake to be enjoyed by all! We wish you all the best in your new adventures.
Summer Holiday Club
Bookings are still open for Holiday Club here at St. Helen's College over the summer holiday. You can book places using your SchoolsBuddy account. Further details are available here.
MultiSports Summer Camps
Wayfarers Tennis Club are hosting Multisports camps over the summer. If you are interested, you can find full details on their flyer here.
Basketball Summer Camp
Thames Valley Cavaliers are running a summer basketball camp at Uxbridge College from 29th July to 1st August. If you are interested in your child attending, you can find full details on their flyer here.
Uniform/Equipment List, Menu and Co-Curricular Bookings - Autumn Term 2019
Please note that the updated uniform/equipment list and lunch menu for next term have now been published to the School Documents page of the website. Please do take the opportunity over the summer to ensure that your child has all of the required uniform and equipment for the forthcoming academic year, and to look at the lunch menu with them. Bookings for Co-Curricular clubs for the Autumn term will open when we return to school in September and clubs will be bookable, as usual, via your SchoolsBuddy account.
Breakfast Club and After School Club Bookings - Autumn Term 2019
SchoolsBuddy has proved to be a very useful, efficient and user-friendly system for the booking of Breakfast Club and Holiday Club this year and so, from September, Funtasia After School Club bookings will also be made via your SchoolsBuddy account.
Please note that the pricing structure has been rationalised slightly for After School Club. For both Lower and Upper School, a half session (until 4.45 p.m.) will be charged at £7.50 and a full session (until 6 p.m.) will be charged at £11.00. There is also the option, at Upper School, to book your child in for a half session after they have attended a co-curricular club.
Please note that all sessions must be paid for at the point of booking and no refunds will be issued - so please think carefully before making bookings! You will be able to book your sessions via SchoolsBuddy right up until the time that the session begins. Please do NOT telephone the school office to ask office staff to book your children in as we will not have the facility to do this at school. We hope that parents will continue to find SchoolsBuddy easy to use but if you do experience any problems with using the system, please let us know.
Posted on: 5/07/2019Celebrating Success - Head's Blog
Celebrating success is something which I do think we can be quite modest about here at St. Helen’s College. I often pick up educational publications and read about what is happening in other Prep Schools and think to myself - well we have been doing that for years...it’s just part of what we are known for! Perhaps the reason that we are not ‘blowing our trumpets’ in publications is that our teachers are just so busy with the most important thing of all and that is working with your children to support them in their learning.
I would like to offer you this list below to take your pick from - what interests you?
History of Cricket
Powerpoint
Music
Website, songs
Showcasing My Art
Book
Fermat's Last Theorem
Website, quiz, timeline and video
William Shakespeare
Website,model, quiz and playscript
5 mass extinctions
Website, papier mache
Gymnastics
Website,quiz and photo album
Architecture around the World
Website, photos, Lego
The Cold War
Model, quiz and website
The History and Techniques of Basketball
Website and video
The History Of Walt Disney
Powerpoint
Turtles
Short edit and Powerpoint
Women in Science
Models, information and books
Art Tutorials (human faces and features)
Website, video
Inspirational Women
Powerpoint, quiz, books
Coral Reefs
Powerpoint and model
The History/Present day of the BAPS London Mandir
Book, video a quiz
Dreams and Phobias
Website
Planes
The Evolution of technology
Website, model and video (stop motion), also pictures
Sharks
A lot of writing and a few videos
The History of Video Games
the history of popular video games through the past and present
History of Code
History of code, code now and I will make a game using Fuze
LEGO
Website with Lego movie, quiz and model
Python Bootcamp
On-screen recording software and website
The History of Consoles
Website, video, quiz
History of Fifa
Powerpoint
Glaciers
Powerpoint/model
WW2
Website and art
The Universe and Discoveries Inside It
Website with video
The Life of Alexander Hamilton
Video, Powerpoint
Tsunamis
Website and model
Pokemon
Papier mache model
Rugby
Website containing video
Star Wars
Website and model
The History of Disney
Website
The History of Mcdonalds
Website
History of clothing
Board
The History of Animation
Website, video (an animation)
PCs and how they are made
Website
The History of Marvel
Website
The Gulf War:1990-1991
Website, poster with pictures and quiz
Running Clothes
Website, model of human in running clothes
You may well be wondering why I have shared this list with you! Well now I AM blowing our trumpet...this is the vast array of projects which our current Year 6 pupils have been working on this half term and how they will present them. They are topics chosen entirely by the pupils themselves because they have a passion for or interest in the subject. They will be presenting their projects to their parents and the pupils and staff next week as the culmination of their learning at St. Helen’s College, after they have delivered their Year 6 production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Compass Theatre.
I cannot express how proud I am as the Head Teacher to be able to learn from our pupils about subjects I may not be familiar with. I am so enthused by the dedication and commitment of our pupils as they utilise all the skills which they have learnt over the years to present to an audience on a subject they have a genuine interest in.
As we enter our last week of this academic year I truly am in awe of all of your children - their achievements and success in so many areas of learning are outstanding. Parents from Year 1 to 6 will receive your children’s reports next week; our EYFS parents have already received theirs. Enjoy reading them - use them to celebrate your children’s successes but also to empower them to keep striving to be their very best - to keep developing their ‘Habits of Learning’. These ‘habits’ when truly established and secure will give them such a great platform to achieve their dreams!
Mrs. Drummond
Posted on: 5/07/2019Weekly News - Friday 5th July 2019
Amazing Summer Fete!
Huge thanks to the PA Committee, parent helpers, family, friends, pupils and staff who were involved in making Saturday's Summer Fete such a special occasion.
With the glorious sunshine and super community feel, it is an event which will live long in the memory! You can see photographs of the Fete on our Galleries page.
The PA have asked us to add these words:
The PA would like to say a huge thank you to the St. Helen's College community for the amazing support that you gave to this year’s Summer Fete - we hope that you had a great afternoon. The donations, the support with preparation and the help given on the day have been absolutely incredible this year. Your support makes these events the successes that they are and we cannot thank you enough! What a superb way to start the summer!
The PA would also like to thank all of those parents who donated items for the Sports Day refreshments stall - the donations were truly amazing and we are very grateful! Thank you also to those parents who came and bought items from the stall - we hope that you all enjoyed the events as much as the children did!
Prep Sports Day
Once again, we enjoyed an absolutely fantastic Prep Sports Day last Friday at the Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex. We are so lucky to use this amazing facility for our Sports Day, with the children able to compete in the widest range of events on a real cinder running track and using specialist equipment for the throwing and jumping events. There are photographs of the Prep Sports Day and of the recent Pre-Prep Sports Day and Ducklings Sports Day on the Galleries page.
District Sports Results
On Monday evening a group of children from Years 3 to 6 attended the District Sports event. The team did very well indeed and the full set of results follows which, as you can see, meant many silver and bronze medals for the St. Helen's College team! Congratulations to all who took part. You can see photographs of the event on our Galleries page.
Individual Track events:
Y3 50m Adam K 2nd
Y4 60m Fredericka T 3rd
Y5 70m Daniel G-J 3rd
Y6 80m Hebe E 3rd
Y5/6 400m Zoe K 2nd
Individual Jumping events:
Y3 Speed bounce Oliver T 2nd
Y5 Standing Triple Jump Alex S 3rd
Individual Throwing events:
Y5 Vortex Howler (boys) Eli V-B 3rd
Y5 Vortex Howler (girls) Chloe W 2nd
Relays
Y3 Adam K, Oliver T, Charlotte M, Kylah O-A 3rd
Y5 Daniel G-J, Jack H, Harry J, Rhea A-V, Chloe W, Grace B 3rd
Rounders District Tournament
On Wednesday the rounders team had a re-arranged rounders tournament at Oak Farm School. Teams were divided into two groups of four, all playing each other, with the top two going through to the semi finals. St. Helen's College won all three group games, playing extremely well with the bat and in the field. In the semi final we were drawn against Oak Farm B and were comfortable winners, 6 rounders to 3. In the final, we faced our old rivals Oak Farm A in an extremely tight match. Unfortunately we lost 6.5 - 5.5 rounders. The team played very well, scoring many rounders, taking some great catches and running a lot of people out. This was a fantastic achievement by all the team, who should feel very proud of themselves.
Team members were: Rishi S-P, William P, Thomas W, Daniel G-J, Alex C, Vir R, Aaria K, Ionie M, Mia N, Georgia M.
Wrens Assembly
The Wrens Nursery children performed with outstanding confidence in their minibeast assembly as they entertained us all and taught us many interesting facts about the array of minibeasts in our gardens. Superb singing, dancing and voice projection from all!
4T Memories Assembly
We all enjoyed a very poignant walk down memory lane this morning, as 4T reflected on their outstanding year of learning. Wonderful presentations from every member of the class highlighting many stand out moments of their time in Year 4 - well done everybody!
Last Week Of Term
We have a very busy last week of term still to come. Our Year 6 pupils will have the opportunity to raise funds for our CRUK charity by being 'Teacher for the Day' on Tuesday. Year 6 parents are also invited to attend the Project Day on Thursday and all the children from Y2 - 6 will have the opportunity to cheer on the teachers as the Year 6 pupils challenge us all to a game of rounders in Court Park!
Co-Curricular Clubs
All co-curricular clubs have now finished for the term, with the exception of the following, which will run sessions this week on these dates to make up for missed sessions earlier in the term:â
Reception Multisports - Thursday 11th July
Y1 Spanish - Thursday 11th July
Y1 Multisports - Thursday 11th July
Y2/3 Athletics - Tuesday 9th July
Y2/3 Art Club - Tuesday 9th July
Y2/3 Craft Club - Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th July
Y2/3 British Sign Language Club - Wednesday 10th July
Y2 Tennis Club - Thursday 11th July
Y5/6 Tri Golf - Tuesday 9th July
Y5/6 Tennis Club - Thursday 11th July
Going for Gold
Our Junior Road Safety Officers have been working really hard this year to promote active walking and safer travel to school. They are are aiming to achieve the TfL STARS Gold accreditation for St. Helen's College this year. In order for them to achieve this, we will be conducting a one day travel survey this coming Monday and the school must demonstrate a modal shift since the last survey in 2017 towards safer and more active travel to school. So we would ask everyone to make a really big effort this coming Monday to walk, scoot, bike or 'park and stride' on their journey to school to support the JRSOs going for gold. Many thanks, in advance, for your support.
Summer Holiday Club
Bookings are still open for Holiday Club here at St. Helen's College over the summer holiday. You can book places using your SchoolsBuddy account. Further details are available here.
Breakfast Club and After School Club Bookings - Autumn Term 2019
SchoolsBuddy has proved to be a very useful, efficient and user-friendly system for the booking of Breakfast Club and Holiday Club this year and so, from September, After School Club bookings will also be made via your SchoolsBuddy account.
Please note that the pricing structure has been rationalised slightly for After School Club. For both Lower and Upper School, a half session (until 4.45 p.m.) will be charged at £7.50 and a full session (until 6 p.m.) will be charged at £11.00. There is also the option, at Upper School, to book your child in for a half session after they have attended a co-curricular club.
Please note that all sessions must be paid for at the point of booking and no refunds will be issued - so please think carefully before making bookings! You will be able to book your sessions via SchoolsBuddy right up until the time that the session begins. Please do NOT telephone the school office to ask office staff to book your children in as we will not have the facility to do this at school. We hope that parents will continue to find SchoolsBuddy easy to use but if you do experience any problems with using the system, please let us know.
Summer Reading Challenge
Staff from Oak Farm Library will be attending assembly next week to encourage your children to sign up for the annual 'Summer Reading Challenge'. Please do take your children along to the local library to sign up for this exciting reading opportunity for the children. We look forward to the children bringing in their certificates at the beginning of next term and hearing about all the wonderful books they read over the holidays.
https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/
Posted on: 28/06/2019Weekly News - Friday 28th June 2019
Sports News
Ducklings Sports Day
The Ducklings parents and staff were delighted with the performances of our young Ducklings at their very first St. Helen's College Sports Day. There were wonderful performances and team work from all the children! You can see photographs on our Galleries page.
Prep Sports Day
A full report of today's Prep Sports Day will be published in due course. In the meantime, we have recently been sent these photographs from a 1950s St. Helen's College Sports Day and thought that current parents and pupils might enjoy spotting the differences between then and now!
Smashing Tennis
Our Y5/6 tennis team travelled to Redbridge this week to represent Hillingdon at the London Youth Games School Games finals. The event brings together all the Borough winners from the 32 London Boroughs to compete against each other to become regional winners. Our team played matches against schools from the Boroughs of Southwark, Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent, Merton, Lewisham and Wandsworth throughout the day, showing some very good play to remain undefeated all day, winning five matches and drawing two. The team finished in a very credible 9th place overall. Well done to our Y6s Rishi, Aaria and Hebe and to Catherine and Daniel from Y5.
Summer Basketball Camp
If your child is interested in basketball, they might enjoy a summer camp. There are details here.
Year 1 and 2 Summer Plays
Many congratulations to our Year 1 and 2 pupils for their outstanding performances at the Winston Churchill Hall this week as they performed 'The Goblin Next Door' and 'Porridge'. It really is truly remarkable that our young Helenians are able to take to the stage with such confidence to delight their audience with choreography, comic timing, beautiful singing and crisp, audible delivery of lines.
PA Summer Fete
The Summer Fete has arrived and will be taking place in the Upper School playground from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday 29 June 2019). Although there is no entrance fee, there will be donation buckets at the Parkway gate entrance, with any money raised being donated to Cancer Research. In addition, a group of Year 5 entrepreneurial children will be selling products from their stall with all proceeds being donated to World Animal Protection. Please do visit their stall (Dream Team) and give them some support.
The fete is a wonderful event so feel free to bring along your friends and family. There will be a range of world food stalls where you can buy anything from Indian food to mouth-watering hot dogs and burgers from our BBQ. We will also have lots of games for you to have a go at so, if you can, make sure you bring lots of change with you. Any money raised on the stalls is reinvested into the school and this year the PA will be working with the school to bring improvements to the Upper School playground.
Finally, one last plea for helpers. If anyone else is available to help with set up tomorrow (from 7.30 a.m.) or to help on any of the stalls, please do contact us at pa@sthelenscollege.com. Thank you to everyone who has offered their support - this event would not be possible without your help and we really do appreciate it!
Cancer Research Relay for Life
As we have done for many years, St. Helen's College will be taking part in the Cancer Research Relay for Life this year. Full details of our fundraising activities have been sent out separately to parents but we would like to remind everyone that there will be a whole school Tog Day on Thursday 11th July, for which we ask that your son or daughter bring in a donation (minimum £1 but all donations gratefully accepted). We would be delighted to welcome team members to join us for the Relay itself, which takes place on July 20th. You can sign up as a team member, or make a donation to our team cause, here.
This week, the children at Upper School have begun their fundraising efforts with 'Soak The Teacher' and selling raffle tickets and bookmarks. On Monday there is a cake sale at Upper School so please do allow your children to bring in some spare change!
Park Run
Mrs. Rooney was delighted to see so many St. Helen's College children taking part in the new Junior Park Run at Northala Fields this Sunday. It is a free 2km event for 4-14 year olds that takes place every Sunday at 9 a.m. If your child is interested in taking part, please refer to https://www.parkrun.org.uk/northalafields-juniors/ for further details.
Posted on: 21/06/2019The Pupil Voice: Roadwatch by Catherine L
Following the recent success of our Junior Roadwatch scheme, I am delighted to share a guest blog from one of our Year 5 Junior Road Safety Officers, Catherine.
In this article I would like to share the new idea of Junior Roadwatch that St. Helen’s College is taking part in.
In April, the Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) went to Guildhall to present to the London Road Safety Council about St. Helen’s College’s phenomenal Road Safety Journey. At the meeting, an ambassador from Transport For London (TFL) introduced a new incentive which was Junior Roadwatch. The JRSOs were enthusiastic about the idea and keen on getting involved. Shortly after this, Miss Walker contacted the TFL ambassador to ask if he would be interested in letting us try this four week scheme out. I would like to tell you all about it now.
What is Junior Roadwatch?
Junior Roadwatch is aimed at children (around my age) to encourage them to venture more into the road safety aspect of speeding. The scheme wants to promote the importance of being aware of speeding and how to prevent it. The JRSOs will work in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and the Hillingdon STARS Team. A police officer will be holding a speed gun to check that drivers are not going over the limit. If a driver does get pulled over for speeding at a speed of 35-40 mph they will have the opportunity to speak to us or receive three points off their driving licence and a £100 fine. Drivers going wildly over the limit will not have the choice to talk to us and will receive serious consequences. If the driver chose to talk to us we would ask them questions to help them understand that speeding can be dangerous and make them aware of the risk of crashes/accidents that could happen to them or our community. Alongside the speed activity there would be Sound Pollution tests and Traffic Surveys to give us an insight into how we can make our community a greener place.
What happened on the day?
The scheme is carried over a four week period, which started from the 4th June. On the first week we met with the staff from the Hillingdon STARS team. Mr. Rogers from the STARS team explained the difference between a limit and a target as this normally confused drivers. A target is a goal you strive for and occasionally go over the top of but a limit is a barrier you should not be going over. We want to make sure that people should know that speed signs are a limit not a target. Then, all six JRSOs brainstormed questions for the drivers who go over the limit.
Here are some of them:
Why do you think there are zebra crossings on this road?
Can you tell me what speed you were driving at?
Can you tell me why you were speeding?
Do you know how many schools there are on this road?
Can you name some of the schools?
What does this sign mean?
On Tuesday, it was the actual Junior Roadwatch! Coming along with us were Mr. Rogers and Cat from the STARS team, Miss Walker, two Met Police officers, Mrs. Drummond and Mrs. Stark. First up on the speed limit activity were Esha and I. One of the police officers pointed his speed gun at the road and believe me, it actually looked petrifying! As the police officer pointed the speed gun he detected a car going over the limit. The police directed him to the kerb where the man decided to talk to us. We asked questions so we could gather a picture of why he was speeding. In the end it was because he was running late for a dentist appointment. We found that talking to the driver helped us to understand the story from another point of view.
As our time came to an end towards the end of Junior Roadwatch we were happy we made an impact as we were the first school in Hillingdon to try this new scheme out! It turned out to be a great success and in two weeks we will explain our findings in assembly and we have invited the local councillors along to hear about our work with the STARS team. I hope that our contribution will help to get other schools involved too and that we will be rewarded with a STARS Gold Award!
By Catherine L
Posted on: 21/06/2019Weekly News - Friday 21st June 2019
Arrangements for Year 1 and Year 2 Summer Plays
On Wednesday 26th June, Year 1 and Year 2 children will be performing their summer plays to Nursery and Reception children. On this day, children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 should be dropped by parents directly to the Winston Churchill Hall in Ruislip between 8.00 and 8.30 a.m. They will be brought back to school and will have lunch at school as normal.
On Thursday 27th June, Year 1 and Year 2 will perform plays to parents, family and friends. Year 1 will perform at 1.30 p.m. and Year 2 at 2.30 p.m. On this day, all children should be dropped off at school as normal; they will eat school lunch and Year 1 and 2 children will then be taken by coach to the Winston Churchill Hall for their performances. Children will be dismissed directly to parents from the Winston Churchill Hall following their performance.
Tickets are now available to purchase for these Year 1 and Year 2 productions. Please use this link to book your tickets, and you will then be sent a charge to your SchoolsBuddy account to make a payment. Parents will be permitted to take older siblings out of school on the Thursday afternoon to watch the performance if they would like to; please notify your class teacher in writing if you would like to do this.
We look forward to seeing many of you at the plays, which are always very special events.
Super Pre-Prep Sports Days
Well done to all of our Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children who took part in their wonderful Sports Days at Court Park on Thursday. Without exception, the children joined in enthusiastically and competed with determination and pride. We are sure that parents were as proud of them as we all were! You can see lots of photographs of the children taking part on our Galleries page.
St. Helen's College Are Chess Champions!
Very well done to the St. Helen's College chess teams who performed extremely well in their tournament against St. Bernadette's School this week. There were some very strong individual performances which contributed to the St. Helen's College A team winning the tournament and the trophy! Our B team struggled a little on the day, but gained valuable experience and were delighted to see their friends lift the trophy too.
It is worth noting that, while the St. Bernadette's players were mainly from Year 6, our A team were all from Year 5 and our B team was made up of one Year 5 player and three players from Year 4! They should feel very proud of themselves to have taken on the challenge of competing against older children and performing so well. A badge was awarded to Ibraheem for sportsmanship and another badge to Marcus for best checkmate, and all of the children deserve a special mention for their efforts.
St. Helen's College A team: Michael K, Jai D, Alex S, Marcus S
St. Helen's College B team: Ibraheem F, Sulaiman M, Aaron S, Vidhit N
Aarna Plays at Cadogan Hall!
Congratulations to Aarna A, who will be playing two pieces with the Hillingdon Orchestra at the Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. Aarna plays the flute and it is an honour to be chosen to play in this wonderful venue. You can see details of the performance here:
Encore : A Celebration of Music
https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/encore-a-celebration-2019/
If your child plays an instrument and would like to get involved with the Hillingdon Music Hub, you can find out more information by following the link below.
https://archive.hillingdon.gov.uk/music
3M Assembly - Fair Trade
Well done to the children of 3M who presented a truly inspirational assembly this morning all about the benefits of Fair Trade. They took us all on a journey to St. Lucia to see how bananas are grown and who profits the most from the banana trade, before explaining why buying Fair Trade will help to make sure that workers are paid fairly and able to feed and educate themselves and their families. Fair trade coffees, teas, bananas and banana milkshakes were served to parents before the assembly too!
PA Summer Fete
The Summer Fete is only a week away and preparations are almost complete. To help make this the best event possible, we are looking for donations of:
Cakes
Drinks
Soft toys - for the toy tombola
Nearly new toys (no books please)
Old school uniform – for the uniform stall
Brand new toys - for the raffle and toy tombola stalls
New items or unwanted gifts - for the raffle, nearly new stall or hoopla
If you are able to donate any of the above or can volunteer your time for all or part of the day, please do get in touch with us at pa@sthelenscollege.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Dads raise over £5000 for the British Heart Foundation!
Some of our St. Helen's College fathers had a very special Father's Day this year, spending the day taking part in the London 2 Brighton bike race to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.
The Dads have, so far, raised £5,433.98 for the British Heart Foundation, which really got them noticed by the event organisers on the day. They did 1:1 interviews and put out special congratulatory wishes when they reached the finishing line. Even the sun made an appearance!
The families of these men were so proud of the Dads' achievement. Well done to all involved!
Young Geographer of the Year
Information about the Royal Geographical Society's Young Geographer of the Year competition can be found here. We would like to give the current Year 4 and Year 5 children the opportunity to take part in this poster competition. Year 4 and Year 5 children could start to think about ideas over the holiday and do research on holidays such as taking photos or collecting items. If your child would like to take part, please register your interest by emailing Miss Walker at swalker@sthelenscollege.com. Miss Walker will run some workshops (after school) in September for those who wish to enter the competition to work on their posters, ready to submit entries by 18th October.
Music Tuition
There are still a few spaces available for instrumental tuition at Upper School from September: we have one space for trumpet, one space for flute and two spaces for clarinet. If your son or daughter would like lessons, please email Mrs. Allery directly at rallery@sthelenscollege.com. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis. All places for other instruments have now been allocated.
Passport Forms
We would like to remind parents that teachers are happy to sign passport forms, but these forms must be brought to school unsigned and signed by parents in front of teachers in order to comply with regulations.
Summer Hair Cuts
Please can parents be very mindful to follow the guidance given in the Parents' Handbook regarding short haircuts for boys. The relevant text is copied below.
Boys’ hair must be cut above the collar and ears in a conventional manner. Crew cuts, shaved patterning, obvious layering and gelling are not allowed.
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