Weekly News - Friday 4th March 2022

World Book Day Fun!

We had so much fun at all three sites yesterday celebrating World Book Day.

At Ducklings the children came dressed in a variety of outfits from Peter Rabbit to The Hungry Caterpillar, while the staff dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland. The children created their own bookmark to take home and enjoyed group discussions about their characters and lots of story telling throughout the day. 

At Lower School, Year 1's theme of Roald Dahl was thoroughly embraced and even included Miss Trunchbull and the Chokey! The Reception and Nursery theme was Julia Donaldson and everyone looked amazing in their costumes. Kingfishers delighted us with a superb assembly reminding us all of the wonder of books - you can read more about this below.

At Upper School, we had a Roald Dahl theme and the children and staff all dressed as Roald Dahl characters. The pupils took part in exciting Roald Dahl themed workshops including potion making, designing a new sweet treat in The Inventing Room, guessing Who Is Coming To Dinner, re-writing Revolting Rhymes, making honeycomb and re-enacting scenes from Roald Dahl's books. You can read some of the Year 5 children's imaginative alternative endings to Roald Dahl's version of The Three Little Pigs here and you can see lots of photographs of children across the school enjoying World Book Day on our Galleries page.

Reading is, of course, one of the most important building blocks of an excellent education. Thank you all for supporting our World Book Day celebrations and please do keep encouraging your children to read - and keep reading yourselves!

Mathematics Success

For the first time at the school, a number of children took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. This challenge is open to children up to Year 11 (GCSE). Our expectation was that the children would simply enjoy participating. However, two of the children achieved a gold certificate, one a silver and four bronze. Those who achieved gold or silver have been invited to participate in the next round on 17th March. 

Well done to everyone who participated and particularly to:

Zachariah F Gold
Zakariya M Gold
Shruthi T Silver
Luka K Bronze
Eshan N Bronze
David W Bronze
Aryan B Bronze

5A Class Assembly

Today the children of 5A presented their class assembly in which they told us the story of Pandora's Box. Their performance was confident, extremely well delivered and very poignant. In a time of difficulty, the message that there is hope in the world was a welcome one and the children's understanding of this concept was heartwarming. The class sang beautifully and shared some of their work from their Positive Psychology sessions with us too. Congratulations, 5A, you have sent us into the weekend with pride in our hearts and an important message to consider.

Owls Class Assembly

Our Owls class performed a super assembly on the theme of 'Hot and Cold' this week.

The children sang, danced and recited rhymes with enthusiasm and confidence.  They also managed to inspire us all to remember the 3Rs - reuse, reduce, recycle. Well done Owls, you did a great job!

 

 

Kingfishers Class Assembly

The children of Kingfishers presented their assembly themed around World Book Day on Thursday. They explained the importance - and joy - of reading together, and exhorted us all to turn off our television sets and install bookcases instead! They sang some uplifting songs and recited a lovely poem as a class, which you can read below. Very well done, Kingfishers, on a confident and very enjoyable performance.

Open a book and you will find
People and places of every kind
Open a book and you can be
Anything you want to be
Open a book and you can share
Wondrous words you find in there
Open a book and I will too
You read to me and I’ll read to you!

British Science Week

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a ten day celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.  Parents may wish to look at the British Science Week website or even take a visit to the Science Museum or the local Heath Robinson Museum based in Pinner.

Sports News

Last Saturday, our A and B teams played at the Ryefield netball tournament. 

The girls all played very well. Unfortunately the B team did not progress past the group stages. However, the A team got to the finals where they were beaten by Hermitage who won 4-3. 

Natalia C was our A team captain and she collected the trophy for St. Helen's College winning the league. 

 

 

The U11 girls' football team took part in the Borough Girls' Football Tournament on Wednesday in the pouring rain. The girls really enjoyed competing although unfortunately they did not progress to the next round. Thank you to all of the parents who came and supported the team in such awful conditions.

Music News

We were delighted to hear from our cello teacher, Mrs. MacLean, that there were some St. Helen's College families amongst the audience at the concert she played last weekend with the Elgar Symphonia of London. This event took place in the beautiful St. Andrew's Church in Holborn, which was designed by Christopher Wren. Grace O'H (Year 4) was even offered the opportunity to conduct the orchestra (which had almost 80 members!) in front of the large audience.

National Online Safety Whatsapp Guide

National Online Safety have this week shared an excellent guide for parents/carers about Whatsapp. It includes useful advice about how to ensure that your child's Whatsapp use is safe. You can access this here.

PA Forum Meeting

Thank you to the parents who attended the PA Forum meeting on Wednesday evening with Mrs. Drummond, Mrs. Hunt, Mr. McLaughlin and Mrs. Smith. As always, it was an enjoyable and productive meeting in which parents and staff shared ideas for ways in which to enhance the children's education, personal development and daily life. Minutes have been circulated by email to all parents and staff.

Ukraine Appeal

Thank you so much to all of the families who have made donations of colouring pencils, books, toys and games for refugee families fleeing from the Ukraine war. We have today shipped four large boxes of items to Mr. Harrington's brother who is currently assisting at a hotel in Poland to support refugee families, so these will go straight to the point of need and will really make a difference to children whose lives have been turned upside down. 

Thames Cavaliers - Free Tickets & Pizza for Last Home Games

Once again, Thames Cavaliers Basketball Club are offering FREE tickets and pizza to St. Helen's College children in Years 3-6 for this weekend's matches on Saturday and Sunday. These will be their last regular season home matches and it is also 'selfie weekend' so pupils will have the chance to take photos with their favourite players after the match as well! Further details about both the Saturday and Sunday games are here and free tickets/pizza vouchers are here.

Free Sound Therapy Sessions for Parents

Karen Miles, who facilitates NCT classes at St. Helen's College, is training to become a Sound Therapist through the British Academy of Sound Therapy and will be offering free sound therapy classes in The Evans Hall at St. Helen's College as part of her training. She will be using Himalayan singing bowls, crystal bowls and therapeutic percussion. There are many benefits to Sound Therapy: it can provide deep relaxation and relief from stress and anxiety, and relieve muscle tension and pain. You can find full details here. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so please contact Karen promptly if you are interested in taking part in these free sessions while she is training.

Bikeability (Year 6)

If you have a child in Year 6 and they would like to take part in the Bikeability training sessions, please remember that Monday (7th March) is the deadline for signing up for these. An email was sent directly to Year 6 parents earlier this week - please check this for instructions of how to sign up.

Perform Drama School Easter Holiday Camp

Perform Drama School, who often run excellent workshops at school for St. Helen's College children, will be running an Easter holiday camp in Eastcote themed around The Secret Garden. If you are interested in signing your son or daughter up for this, you can find full details here.