Weekly News - Friday 9th June 2023

 

Eco Schools Green Flag Retained!

We are delighted to let you know that St. Helen's College has once again been awarded the Green Flag by Eco Schools, recognising our commitment to the environment. In our award statement, Eco Schools said the following about our school.

Electing an Eco-Committee democratically is a mature and fair approach that will raise the status of committee members, building their confidence and empowering them to deliver environmental action...It’s great to read that minutes were kept from your committee meetings...It's brilliant to read that the Environmental Review helped you and your pupils to highlight and celebrate everything that your school is already doing to benefit our environment whilst also allowing you to identify areas to work on in the future. The comments on your uploaded document were thoughtful and pertinent and gave our team a glimpse into the discussions that took place amongst young people whilst completing it, and eco-life at your school. Great work everyone! It's fantastic to read that your Eco-Schools work and your Action Plan in particular were used as a means to get the entire school community involved in work to help protect our planet. This will surely have helped to achieve maximum impact and raise awareness amongst the school community. Your Action Plan is ambitious and substantial. The real highlight for us was the whole-school activities planned for the Energy topic to reduce your energy consumption. You have provided some brief descriptions of curriculum sessions linked to Eco-Schools topics and environmental issues. We are pleased to see these spanning many different areas of the curriculum and the EYFS Framework, and the activities and lessons planned sound interesting and practical. We loved seeing your Eco-Board – this really brought your application to life for us. It’s a really attractive and engaging display and it’s good to see all of your efforts being celebrated...Time is a common challenge, familiar to all educators. It creates a pressure and takes resilience to keep going. Within this context, your achievements this year are even greater and we feel lucky that you’ve committed to our programme and worked hard to produce some fantastic results. In particular, your efforts to reduce single-use plastics across the school are to be commended; well done.

Everyone at St. Helen’s College should be proud of the Green Team and the amazing and inspiring work that they’ve delivered this year. You’re more than worthy of your Eco-Schools Green Flag. Congratulations.

Maths Day

Nine children from Years 2 and 3 attended an A.I.M. High Mathematics Day at Colham Manor Primary School on Wednesday. They spent the day collaborating on mathematical challenges that made even the adults attending have to think carefully. They thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and meeting the children at Colham Manor.

Sports News

Pre-Prep Sports Day

Our Pre-Prep Sports Day took place on Thursday at Court Park. The children from Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had a super time in the sunshine competing in their round robin of events and were very proud of the rosettes they achieved!

The overall House Shield was won by Hibernia and the points totals for each house were as follows.

Hibernia 95
Windsor 82
Cambria 79
Caledonia 78 

Borough Best Team Cricket

On Wednesday, our cricket team attended the Borough Best Team Cricket tournament. The team played brilliantly and won all of their games, scoring 888 runs. We were very proud of their efforts!

Karate Achievements

KML Karate Club have contacted St. Helen's College this week to express their admiration for the outstanding achievements of some current and former St. Helen's College pupils. Their remarkable performances have earned them national and international recognition, with many securing podium finishes in the past six months. Myla K (Year 6) is now a fully established member of the EKF SE squad team, and Old Helenian Kylah O-A is currently on a three-month trial with the EKF national team. Once completed, Kylah will be eligible to compete at next year's European Championships.

The KML team, comprising a number of St. Helen's College pupils, will be competing at the British International Championships and the International Banzai Cup in Berlin. The selected team members from St. Helen's College are Myla K, Inaya S, Grace O'H, Avleen P, Freya K, Naiya L, Dylan C, Daynan C,  Aleya S and Rania Q.

KML Karate Club have agreed to perform a demonstration at the upcoming summer fete, where they will showcase their team's talent and skills.

Pupil Performance

Ashvika A (Year 4) was one of the performers in Dreamcoat Stars last Friday at The Beck Theatre. She had an amazing time and was so pleased to share the stage with professional actors. She also received a signed poster for being a part of the cast. Well done Ashvika.

 

 

 

PA Summer Fete

The PA Summer Fete is only two weeks away and preparations are almost complete. To help make this the best event possible, we really need parents to help man their class's stall (if you are unsure what timeslots still need to be filled, speak to your class rep).  We also need parents to help set the fete up (we'll be there from 8am and any help will be gratefully received) - if you can help, please get in touch with your class rep or email us at pa@sthelenscollege.com. 

If you are able to, we are also looking for general donations of:

• cakes
• soft toys for the toy tombola
• new and nearly new toys
• old school uniform in good condition for the uniform stall
• new items or unwanted gifts for the tombola and hoopla stalls

These events are only possible to thanks to the amazing support from parents! We hope to see you there.

Calendar Reminders

Our Singers' Concert will be on Monday 12th June at 7.00 p.m. at All Saints Church. We hope many of you will be able to join us for the evening.

The Kingfishers coffee morning and class assembly will take place on Thursday 15th June in the Lower School Hall.

Also on Thursday 15th June we have a Year 3 - 6 author visit. Details were circulated last week and are copied below. Don't forget to pre-order your child's book for signing if you would like to buy a copy.

Author Visit

On Thursday 15th June, author Nazneen Ahmed Pathak will be visiting us to speak to the children in Years 4-6 about her book City of Stolen Magic and to answer their questions about being an author and the writing process. We are sure this will be very inspiring for our children.

There will also be an opportunity for the children to buy a signed copy of City of Stolen Magic. If you would like to pre-order a copy of the book ready to be signed and dedicated at school on the day, please click the link below and place your order through Chiltern Bookshops by 5 p.m. on Wednesday 14th June. Please note that only books purchased through this link will be signed and dedicated on the day. All orders will be delivered free to St. Helen's College.

Please note that new advice from the bookshop is that this book is age appropriate for children in Year 4 and above. If you had pre-ordered a book for a Year 3 child, you will have been refunded and the book will not be supplied.

https://schools.chilternbookshops.co.uk/events/nazneen-ahmed-pathak-15th-june/ 

Uniform & Equipment

The uniform and equipment list has been updated for the next academic year. Please take a look at the new list here and ensure that children have the correct equipment from September. We are working to reduce the amount that children carry to/from school and parents of Upper School children are reminded that, while children have a free choice of pencil case itself, pupils are not permitted to bring pencil case items to school which are not on the list. 

School Run Reminders

Please would all parents be sure to follow the school's parking, drop off and pick up regulations which are permanently published to the website here.

Parents picking up from 227 Long Lane are asked to ensure that children, including siblings, do not kick or play with the gravel/stones on the driveway there.

The Tempest - Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

One of Miss Rackham's friends is an actor and his upcoming show is The Tempest - reimagined for children aged 6 and up - at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. If you are interested in taking your children to see this production, you can find details at the link below.
https://openairtheatre.com/production/the-tempest-reimagined 

Summer Netball Camp

Blaze Netball Club, which is attended by many St. Helen's College pupils, will be running a netball camp over the summer holidays (21st to 24th August) at Douay Martyrs School. This is open to children from Reception upwards and you can find full details here.