Weekly News - Friday 9th September 2022

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

We have held special assemblies across the school today to commemorate the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our Union Jack flags are flying at half mast and will continue to do so throughout the ten days of mourning. During this time, school events are postponed and new dates for these will be sent to parents in due course.

Sorrow and grief affect all of us in different ways. Please be assured that, if your children have any questions or are feeling sad, we are here to listen and support them. A valuable resource to help children deal with bereavement can be found here and more resources for supporting children's mental health are available here. 

St. Helen's College Winners in National Handwriting Contest

Many congratulations to the four St. Helen's College pupils who were awarded prizes in the Satips national handwriting contest, and particularly to Tiffany and Abir who are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS in their age groups!

1st Place: Tiffany T (Year 3)
1st Place: Abir G (Year 2)
2nd Place: Avleen P(Year 3)
2nd Place: Amariah O-A (Year 2)

Well done to all of the children who entered the competition.

Junior Olympiad Maths Award

Zakariya M (Year 5) received a distinction in the UKMT Junior Olympiad with a score of 44. He will receive a silver medal and book prize for this outstanding achievement.

Trinity Arts Award

Congratulations to our Year 5 pupils, who have been awarded the Trinity Arts Award which they worked towards last year in their music lessons.

Commonwealth Karate Competition

Good luck to the Year 6 St. Helen's College pupils who will be competing in a Commonwealth Karate Competition this weekend: Myla K, Inaya S and Dylan C and to Kylah O-A, who left us in July at the end of her Year 6 and will also be part of the team.

Music Lessons

If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument, please use this form to register their interest and to be added to the waiting list. Mrs. Fawbert will contact you directly once a space is available.

London Mini-Marathon - 1st October

All pupils from Reception to Year 6 will this year be able to take part in the NEW TCS Mini London Marathon, taking place in Westminster on Saturday 1st October.

This is a one mile event for children the day before the world-famous TCS London Marathon. It’s a chance for your children to run, jog, walk or wheel by Buckingham Palace and cross the very same finish line as the world’s best athletes. Every child who finishes will receive a special TCS Mini London Marathon medal and our school will receive £10 per finisher to spend on PE or IT equipment too.

Thank you to all of those parents who have already signed up. It is not too late to do so - simply complete the Google form which was emailed to you recently. The deadline for responses has been extended to Friday 16th September. Provisional timings for the event are 11 a.m. - 1.20 p.m. although these are yet to be confirmed. We will let parents know as soon as we have confirmation of exact timings.

Autumn Term Co-Curricular Activities

We would like to remind parents that the deadline for submitting your child's preferences for this term's co-curricular activities is this Sunday, 11th September. Club allocations will be sent out to parents at the end of next week.

PA Class Representatives 2022-2023

The St. Helen's College Parents' Association is made up of parent volunteers and does a wonderful job of arranging social events to draw the community together. The PA Committee and class representatives work hard all year and we are very grateful for their time and input. Here is the list of class representatives for this year.

Ducklings: Shirel Amin 
Robins: Fatima Al-Ruhaimi & Simmie Gill
Wrens: Atiyeh Ardakanian
Owls: Lisa Patel 
Kingfishers: Tayiba Qureshi
1C: Reena Patel 
1R: Nipa Patel 
2H: Zoya Sadiq
2R: Ciara Banerji 
3B: Rajni Gupta 
3M: Misba Malik  
4L: Sejal Patel 
4T: Sima Sandal 
5A: Suchita Patel & Nikkie O'Halloran
5G: Indy Lachhar
6B: Zoya Sadiq 
6R: Vacant

If any parent from 6R would like to volunteer to act as class rep this year, please contact pa@sthelenscollege.com.

The committee and representatives meet with Ms Drummond and other senior leaders at school once a term to discuss matters of whole school relevance. If you do have any comments or suggestions about matters which affect pupils/parents throughout the school, please feel free to send them to your class representative for discussion at the next meeting. Matters relevant to specific class or year groups should be directed to the class teacher.

Pakistan Floods Appeal

As parents will know, devastating floods have hit Pakistan, submerging vast areas of land and leaving 6 million people in need of urgent help. According to the government of Pakistan, a third of the country - equivalent to an area the size of the UK - is underwater, in what the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called a "climate catastrophe". Whole villages have been cut off, with rescuers struggling to reach them. At least 1,200 people have been killed and 12,577 injured.

Aid agencies are scrambling to respond to meet people’s basic needs such as food, clean water and shelter, and the government of Pakistan has called for international assistance to provide humanitarian aid.  

Huge areas of agricultural land have been affected, with crops swept away and three quarters of a million livestock killed, which will mean many people going hungry in the longer term. There is also a high risk from water-borne diseases spreading in affected areas.

DEC charities are providing life-saving aid either directly or through local partners. But they urgently need more funds to reach more people.

• £10 could provide essential hygiene supplies for two people 
• £50 could provide emergency shelter for two families 
• £100 could provide emergency food for two families for a month 

If you would like to make a donation, you can do so via the DEC website appeal at:
https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/pakistan-floods-appeal.

We will be educating the children at school about this catastrophe and the urgent need to support those affected. 

Roblox - Online Safety Information

National Online Safety have issued this useful guide for parents and carers, which covers online safety for the popular video game Roblox. 

Uniform/Hair Reminders

We would like to remind parents that blazers are a required part of both the winter and summer uniform for all children from Reception to Year 6. Please ensure that your child has a clean, smart blazer with them every day. Games/PE kits should only be worn on PE days. 

Long hair must be tied back neatly and hair cuts should be appropriate, with no obvious shaving or gelling.

ISI Consultation

The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is currently consulting on proposals for its new inspection framework. This will be introduced in September 2023, at the start of the next inspection cycle. The proposed framework builds on the strengths of ISI’s current framework, while providing the opportunity to review and develop inspection practice.

The consultation closes on Friday 16th September 2022 and ISI are keen to hear parents' views.  Please visit www.framework.isi.net to read about their proposals and complete the survey.  You do not have to answer every question or complete the free text boxes, but please make sure to click on the ‘submit’ button once you have finished.