Weekly News - Friday 26th November 2021

COP26 Talk

Children in Years 1-6 were very lucky this week to be joined live from New York by one of the organisers of the recent COP26 summit, who spoke to them about why and how the summit was organised and its aims.

You can read more about this in this week's Head's Blog here. 

3MB Class Assembly

The children of 3MB presented a class assembly this morning all about babies! They looked at the best years of their lives so far and how they have changed since they were babies. They thought about getting older and had some interesting interviews with their grandparents. They also thought about what they might be like as adults and wrote some letters to their older selves. They cleverly linked their theme with our school value of kindness and considered how we should be kind to everyone, including ourselves. The children were clearly so happy to share their assembly with so many parents, pupils and staff. Well done, 3MB, on a thoroughly enjoyable performance. 

Month End Music Recital

As always, it was a real treat to end the month with an informal music recital in the Evans Hall at Upper School. We heard a wide variety of pieces and instruments, including piano and cello performances from five of our Year 2 pupils and over twelve performers from Years 4, 5 and 6 delighted us with guitar, piano, flute, violin and singing.

Well done to all of those who performed.

Lower School Gardening Club

At Lower School, children have been making flower arrangements in Gardening Club this week, using foliage from teachers' gardens and fresh flowers. The children really enjoyed designing their own arrangements!

We hope that all of the children across the school who have taken part in co-curricular activities this term have enjoyed the chance to have a go at something new, and maybe have discovered an interest or talent they did not know they had.

 

Co-Curricular Allocations

Club allocations for the spring term were sent out to parents yesterday (Thursday 25th November) and parents have until midnight on Monday 29th November to pay. Any places allocated for which payment has not been received by this deadline will be allocated to children on the waiting lists.

NextGen Enterprise - Monday 29th November

We have secured an exclusive one-hour virtual taster session with NextGen Enterprise on Monday 29^th November from 6.30 - 7.30 p.m. for pupils in Year 5 and Year 6.  NextGen Enterprise provide entrepreneurial courses to ages 10-15 and aim to introduce the next generation of entrepreneurs to a world of innovation, collaboration, and creativity. Many of our alumni have been on the NextGen Enterprise courses and we have received fantastic feedback. Parents have already been emailed the link to the event (https://zoom.us/j/95271795428?pwd=alpZbHRxdkN5UCs1K0g5ejVUWGJ2QT09) and we hope that many of our pupils will participate in this super opportunity.

Christmas Events

Next week sees the beginning of Christmas festivities here at St. Helen's College and there are many exciting events coming up. 

The PA Christmas Party is this weekend on Sunday 28th November and we are sure that everyone who is attending will enjoy the festive fun.

Christmas Tree Decoration Competition

Pupils across the school are invited to make a homemade decoration for one of the school Christmas trees and these can be brought into school from Monday 29th November.  Please make sure that the child's name and class are attached in some way to the decoration and that they are not too heavy for us to hang on the tree. There will be prizes for each year group. The closing date is Wednesday 8th December.

Lower School

Tuesday 30th November - 1C Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church
Wednesday 1st December - 1R Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church
Thursday 2nd December - Owls Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church
Friday 3rd December - Kingfishers Christmas Assembly in Methodist Church

For each of these Lower School assemblies, coffee will be served in the Lower School Hall at 8.15 a.m. and parents will then be directed to the church in time for the start of the assembly at 8.45 a.m. There will be a collection at the end of each assembly for the St. Helen's College Trust.

Our Nursery classes will perform their Christmas assemblies the following week.

Thursday 9th December - Wear a Christmas jumper day. Lower School children will enjoy a visiting pantomime production in the afternoon. Details will be sent to parents separately.

Upper School

Friday 3rd December - 2B Coffee Morning/Class Assembly (Coffee from 8.15 a.m. in the Evans Hall, assembly from 8.40 a.m. in the Upper School Hall)
Friday 3rd December - Carols Around The Tree at Upper School (Lower School families, Y2 and Y3 from 3.20 to 3.40 p.m. and Year 4, 5 and 6 from 3.40 p.m. to 4 p.m.)

Wednesday 8th December - Year 2-6 Pantomime trip to 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Full details will be sent separately to parents.

Thursday 9th December - Wear a Christmas jumper day.

Friday 10th December - Carol Service. Our Year 6 parents are invited to attend All Saints Church at 11 a.m. on Friday 10th for our Christmas Service which will be hosted by our Year 6 pupils, the school orchestra and choirs.  As per our Harvest service we are limiting the audience in the church due to the Covid protocols which are still in place.  We will be recording a similar Carol Service for the pupils who are back in school to participate in and this will be shared in due course with our parent body. 

Christmas Lunch

Christmas lunch will be served for all children from Nursery to Year 6 on Thursday 9th December. The menu is available here. Orders will be taken from the children in school next week, so please discuss the menu with your child so that they know what they would like to order.

Salvation Army Christmas Present Appeal

You may recall that last year we successfully ran the Christmas Present Appeal for the Hillingdon Salvation Army. Encouraged by the same St. Helen’s College family, we would like to encourage the pupils to participate again. This is such a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate our school’s core values by helping those local families less fortunate than ourselves.

Therefore we are inviting your child to choose a brand new toy/game for ages 3-11 with a value of approximately £12. The Salvation Army has also suggested gift vouchers. The item should not be gift wrapped and should fit inside a shopping plastic bag.

Please allow your child to bring in their donation by Friday 3rd December. We will have systems in place so that gifts can be put into a class collection bag and subsequently quarantined until The Salvation Army collects them.

We will launch the appeal in our assemblies and really hope it is something you feel able to support. Thank you so much in advance for your kindness and generosity.

Charity Fundraising

We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to parents, pupils and staff for all of the recent generous charity donations received. We are delighted to say that the St. Helen's College community has raised:

Poppy Appeal  -  £382.35   

Children In Need - £1,984.92

Uniform Reminder

Please may we remind parents that pupils should be wearing their winter felt caps and hats to and from school and that the woollen beanie hat is only for use in the school playground.