Weekly News - Friday 4th February 2022

Chinese New Year Celebrations

Well done to all of the pupils who contributed this week to our Chinese New Year celebrations! In Monday's assembly, Ruby L presented a wonderful video she had made which explained the traditions behind Chinese New Year celebrations. Aman B shared a lovely video of himself and his neighbour performing a piece of Chinese guitar music and 3MB performed a 'Song of the Dragon' for us all too.

4T Class Assembly

4T presented a very meaningful class assembly today all about friendship and friendliness. They told a story about friendliness and did sign language along with a beautiful performance of the song 'You've Got A Friend In Me'. The children all spoke their lines confidently and it was clear to see that they were invested in the meaning of what they were presenting. Very well done, 4T.

Travelling Natural History Museum Visits Nursery

The Nursery children had the most wonderful dinosaur experience last Friday when they enjoyed a visit from the Travelling Natural History Museum!

Dinoman told them all about the different dinosaurs. He shared information about their size and what they ate, explaining the difference between herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. The children were able to touch a real dinosaur claw and a T-Rex tooth as well as touching the dinosaur models and the baby dinosaur. 

The boys and girls all enjoyed taking part in a dinosaur dig to find fossils and using dinosaur feet to stomp around! They also learnt about how the dinosaurs became extinct with a meteorite explosion but the crocodiles survived.

This was a truly memorable experience which they will be talking about with joy for a very long time. You can see lots more photographs of their day on our Galleries page.

Science Quiz Club

Luka K, Aryan B, Advik S and Jacob N took part in the semi final of the Science Quiz Club competition today. They were up against strong competition and it was super to see them work so well as a team and enjoy the experience so much.

Year 5 and Year 6 Basketball

The children in Year 5 and Year 6 were very fortunate today to take part in basketball training sessions with Coach Pete and Coach Juan from the Thames Valley Cavaliers. 

 

 

 

 

Thames Cavaliers Basketball

It was super that so many families attended the basketball match last Saturday to support the Thames Cavaliers. The team have offered free tickets and pizza again this weekend for St. Helen's College pupils in Years 3 - 6. The match is on Sunday afternoon this week, with doors opening at 3 p.m. You can find details and pizza vouchers here and here. St. Helen's College children from Year 5 and 6 who are attending the match on Sunday will be taking part in a half time shoot out against another school.

Sports Results

It was a good week for the St. Helen's College football team this week as they won their mid-week game against Laurel Lane 6-0. Well done to all those who played.

Cookery Club

The Year 4 children in Cookery Club have had a stupendous time cooking and baking this half term. Their enthusiasm, appreciation and appetite for delicious food were evident! They have made sausage rolls and pizzas, and baked apple crumble cake and brownies. Ms Gilham has enjoyed sharing their love of food.

 

 

 

Online Safety

National Online Safety have shared these two excellent guides about Respect on the Internet, one for parents and one for children. We will be discussing these in school with the children after half term, and would like to encourage parents to read them and discuss them at home too.

Respect Online - Guide for Parents

Respect Online - Guide for Children
 

Mother/Baby Mindfulness Classes

Our next set of Mother/Baby Mindfulness classes will begin on Wednesday 23rd February, the week after half term.

These are completely free to parents. They take place on Wednesday mornings at 9.00 a.m. in the Evans Hall at our Upper School site on Long Lane, opposite Lower School. Classes run in half termly blocks. Each class lasts for 45 minutes and is followed by optional tea/coffee/chat.

The classes are led by Mrs. McLaughlin, one of our Year 3 teachers, who qualified as a PAUSE Baby Mindfulness practitioner after having her first baby a couple of years ago. They provide a safe space for mums and babies to bond and relax, taking part in Mindfulness exercises and some very gentle yoga, and have proved very popular so far.

If you would like to join the set of six classes starting in February, please email susmith@sthelenscollege.com with your baby's name and date of birth and your telephone number. Please do also feel free to share the information about the classes with any other friends or family who might have a baby (birth to crawling - no crawlers allowed!). They don't have to have children at St. Helen's College (or intend to send children here) to come along - the classes are free to anyone.

IAPS iArt Competition 

After the success of iArt 2021, in which Arya A at St. Helen's College was a winner, IAPS will be running the competition again in 2022 and hopes to receive more submissions than ever. Shortlisted entrants will receive prizes of vouchers for local independent bookshops.
 
This year, the competition will have a theme and all submissions must in some way relate to this theme. The theme is my role model.
 
This theme has been chosen because IAPS is interested to see who inspires pupils, who motivates them, who they admire and who they would like to be like when they grow up. The role models can be anyone:

• someone personal e.g. a family member, friend, teacher, coach, librarian, a member of the local community;
• someone “in general” e.g. nurses, doctors, train drivers, farmers;
• someone public e.g. a famous person, such as a sportsperson, environmentalist, singer

While IAPS encourages pupils to attempt a portrait of their role model, pupils – and particularly, younger pupils – should feel free to just paint / draw / create something which reminds them of their role model instead. For example, if a pupil’s role model is David Attenborough, they might choose to paint trees and animals, or if their role model is a parent, they might choose to draw a picture of their house. 

Each pupil must write a maximum of 100 words in a sentence or two to accompany their piece of work, saying 'My role model is...because...'.

Entries will be judged on a) interpretation of the theme; b) creativity around the theme; c) overall design; d) and that ‘certain something’ that just draws you to the artwork! There is no set format for entries and artwork can be submitted in any medium. Submissions can be paintings, drawings, or models, any size, and use any art supplies.  
 
There are five categories for the iArt competition: Years 1 & 2, Years 3 & 4, Years 5 & 6, Years 7 & 8 and Years 9 & 10.  Each school may enter one piece of art for each category. For example, one piece of artwork representing the Years 5 & 6 category, not one artwork from Year 5 and one from Year 6.  

The competition opens for entries on Thursday, 6 January. The deadline for submission is noon on Wednesday, 4 May and the shortlist will be announced later that month. Winners will be invited to attend an awards ceremony which will take place towards the end of June.  

Pupils who would like to enter this competition should submit their pieces of art and accompanying sentences directly to Mrs. Pruce or via their class teacher. Mrs. Drummond and Mrs. Pruce will judge which entries to put forward from St. Helen's College.

This might be a lovely half term activity for the children. Good luck everyone and happy creating!

Dining Room Etiquette

We are encouraging parents to support us in helping pupils with their dining room etiquette at lunch times. We have in the past run 'Cutlery Club' but are hoping that you may be able to share your 'eating etiquette' with your children and this video here may be helpful for you. We will be assisting the pupils in the dining room and will discuss knife and fork skills and table etiquette in assemblies over the next few weeks.