Weekly 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.