Weekly News - Friday 23rd March 2018
Posted on: 23/03/2018It was super to be joined by so many parents for our Easter Service today. We wish you all a happy Easter and a relaxing holiday with your families.
Speech Competition/Poetry Recital
All pupils from Nursery to Year 6 performed with great confidence, articulation and pride at our annual Junior and Senior Speech Competitions and at the Nursery and Reception poetry recitals. It is a testament to the families' support and the superb teaching here that our children are able to take to the stage and demonstrate such highly developed public speaking skills. Congratulations to all of the children for learning their poems and speeches, but special congratulations to our winners.
The overall winners were:
Years 1-3: Zidane B
Years 4-6: Daniel G-J.
Music and Sports Personalities of the Term
Many congratulations to Shreya T, who was named the Music Personality of the Term for the Spring Term for her outstanding effort, commitment, dedication and achievement within the music department.
Shreya has always worked conscientiously and demonstrated enormous enthusiasm over several years, in all aspects of music at St Helen’s College. She:
- has excellent musical skills and is very knowledgeable;
- applies and shares creative ideas successfully in class work;
- is always impeccably behaved and is an excellent role model;
- plays the recorder fluently;
- enjoys and sings in the Senior Choir;
- has recently sung at St John’s Smith Square and The Royal Festival Hall with the Chamber Choir;
- is a reliable music monitor;
- has worked extremely hard in singing lessons and
- has recently passed a Grade 5 singing exam with distinction.
Our Sports Personality of the Term was also announced this week and the award went to a very deserving Chiara L in Y5. Chiara has shown commitment and determination to achieve her sporting goals this term, training incredibly hard to reach an excellent standard of skill in her sport. She remains very modest about her achievements but is really brave when competing, often somersaulting 5 meters in the air. The whole school was incredibly proud of her as she competed at the international competition in Portugal this term and won a gold medal. Many congratulations, Chiara!
There are photographs of the winners on the Galleries page.
Skyping Spain!
Our Year 3 children are involved in a new project, exchanging letters with a Spanish school in Murcia, in the southeast of Spain. Last Thursday, to develop this further and as a surprise for our children, Year 3 actually had the opportunity to have Skype conversations with Spanish pupils, exchanging likes/dislikes and talking about their hobbies, favourite subjects and more. This was a wonderful opportunity to develop their Spanish by speaking with Spanish pupils and the children here are full of excitement for what comes next. Some new international friendships, maybe? We are looking forward to exploring the possibilities of this new project and we will keep you posted!
Trips And Visits This Week
Reception were so lucky to be visited by the Starlab Planetarium this week as a fantastic end to their topic on 'Space'. Once inside the dome, they took an amazing journey through space - looking at the sun, the planets in our solar system, spiral galaxies and stunning nebulae. They were then treated to a breathtaking 360 degree view of the night sky, where they identified some of the most famous constellations and heard how their stories had been passed down through time. It was an incredible experience that they will never forget!
On Wednesday, Year 4 went on a fantastic trip to the Synagogue, which served as a fitting conclusion to their studies of Judaism. The children were impeccably behaved throughout - as was commented on by all of the wonderful and welcoming hosts - during three workshops on the Shabbat, the Torah and Jewish song. All of Year 4 performing a Jewish dance, which provided an entertaining end to a truly outstanding trip.
Chess Club
Chess Club has been busy this term, with participants competing in matches as part of our chess tournament. In the end, Aditya S won the chess tournament in a nail-biting finish to beat Michael K by one point. There were three players who qualified for the Megafinal at Harrow High School on Thursday 12th April: Ayush A, Aditya S and Michael K. Well done to all those who have been developing their chess skills and to these three boys in particular!
The Chess Team enjoyed a friendly match yesterday too, with the teams as follows:
A team: 1 Ayush 2 Michael. 3 Catherine 4 Luke
B team: 1 Aditya. 2 Nirmit 3 Keaton 4 Jai
The result of the first round matches was:
St. Helen's A team v. St. Bernadette's A team
Draw Board 1 Draw
Win Board 2 Lose
Draw Board 3 Draw
Draw Board 4 Draw
St. Helen's B team v. St. Bernadette's B team
Win Board 1 Lose
Win Board 2 Lose
Win Board 3 Lose
Win Board 4 Lose
This was a clean sweep by our B team so things were looking good at the halfway stage.
Round 2
St. Helen's A team v. St. Bernadette's B team
Lose Board 1 Win
Win Board 2 Lose
Win Board 3 Lose
Lose Board 4 Win
St. Helen's B team v. St. Bernadette's A team
Lose Board 1 Win
Lose Board 2 Win
Win Board 3 Lose
Lose Board 4 Win
So at the end we won round 1 and St. Bernadette's won round 2 so the result was a draw. As this was a friendly, we agreed a draw and did not go into finer detail. However, had this been a tournament match we would have won with more individual wins! Well done to all of the pupils, who played well in the face of stiff opposition.
Music News
If your children (and you) might enjoy hearing some music from the movies, why not attend the Family Concert at Trinity Church, Harrow tomorrow evening (Saturday 24th March)? Full details, including ticket prices and timings, are available here.
We have flute vacancies for children in Year 2 upwards. These will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so if you are interested in your son or daughter learning the flute, please contact Mrs. Allery as soon as possible at rallery@sthelenscollege.com.
Co-Curricular Clubs
We still have spaces available in the following Upper School clubs for the summer term.
Y4/5/6 Bushcraft
(Bushcraft will include using a compass, map reading, the Countryside Code, recognising weather conditions, international signs of distress, ropes, knots & gadgets, building a shelter, finding water, building a fire and campfire cooking. Please note that this club is now available to Y4 too.)
Y2/3 Spanish club
Y4/5/6 Spanish club
Y5/6 Tag rugby
Y2/3 Taekwondo
Y4/5/6 Ceramics
Y5/6 Jewellery
Y4/5/6 Yoga
Y3 tennis
Please contact Miss Lang at mlang@sthelenscollege.com as soon as possible if you would like to book onto these clubs for next term
Easter Girls' Basketball Camp
There will be a basketball camp for girls taking place at Douay
Martyrs School over the Easter holidays between Tuesday 3rd - Friday 6th April. Daily sessions run from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
The camp will be a mix of drills, matches, mini competitions and shooting games with an emphasis on fun and enjoyment. All girls aged 7-17 are welcome, regardless of ability or whether they have played basketball before, and the camp will be run by female coaches. There’s also an early bird price of £75 (reduced from £90) for all places booked by 29th March - you can make your booking with a text, call or email and payment can be made later on the first day of camp. Full details are available here.
PA Quiz Night - Saturday 12 May 2018
The PA Quiz Night will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday 12th May 2018 (adults only). The reply slips to book your team in (no more than 8 people per team) have now been circulated in book bags so, if you fancy an evening of fun and laughter and the opportunity to test your grey matter, get your forms filled in and back to us by 27th April please. Tickets cost £10 each and will include a chip shop supper but you will need to bring your own drinks. Places are limited so do get in early to ensure that you don’t miss out. We look forward to seeing you there!
PA Easter Raffle
This year, the PA donated a prize for a free Easter egg draw for each class. Congratulations to all of the lucky winners and Happy Easter to all from the PA!
