Weekly News - Friday 16th June 2023
Posted on: 16/06/2023Singers' Concert
Our annual Singers' Concert took place on Monday evening at All Saints Church and, as ever, this was a very special evening. There were many solo performances as well as performances from the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Chamber Choir. Our departing singing teacher Mrs. Hawkes gave a solo rendition and we ended with the massed choirs singing 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. What a wonderful evening of musicality. Well done to all of those who performed so confidently and with such talent.
We will be holding auditions for next year's Chamber Choir on Wednesday 28th June. Information will be posted to the pupils' Google Classrooms in due course.
Reception Class Assembly
On Thursday the children of our Kingfishers Reception class performed their summer class assembly to their parents, which was themed around Africa. They told us all about what they have been learning about Africa with lots of interesting facts, played some African instruments for us and sang traditional 'call and response' songs beautifully in African languages. They also re-enacted the story of Handa's Surprise and counted to ten in Swahili. This was such a confident, impressive and enjoyable assembly. Thank you Kingfishers and very well done!
Author Visit
Meanwhile at Upper School on Thursday the children in Years 4 to 6 enjoyed a visit from author Nazneen Ahmed Pathak who spoke about her book City of Stolen Magic and answered pupils' questions about being an author and the writing process. This was a very inspiring event for the children and we are sure many of them are going to enjoy reading City of Stolen Magic.
Young Author Award
Atom Learning is launching the second annual Young Author Award to celebrate the generation’s upcoming young writers. With the chance to win incredible prizes (including a trip to Disneyland and free Chromebooks), the competition is open to 7-11 year olds. We would love for some of our amazing St. Helen's College writers to enter. Please find all of the information about entering by following the link below...and please let us know how your children get on if they do enter.
Ducklings and Nursery parents evenings
Bookings for the forthcoming Ducklings and Nursery parents evenings are now open. Parents can book appointments here.
Prep Sports Day
If you have a child in Years 3-6 and have not already done so, please complete this form as soon as possible to confirm your child(ren)'s lunch and collection arrangements for Sports Day on Friday 30th June.
The event will run all day and children in Years 3-6 will need to be dropped off by parents at Hillingdon Athletics Stadium between 8.00 a.m. and 8.40 a.m. on Friday 30th June. There will be no Breakfast Club available for Years 3-6 on this day.
On the morning of Sports Day, the pupils will be split into 8 different groups, one group per event. Each year will be split into gender groups. They will stay in their group and move to the next event every 25 minutes. The pupils will score points per event according to the distance they throw or the height they jump. By the end of the events, they will have 6 separate scores and those points will all go to their individual Houses. There will be awards for the boy and girl who achieve the best throw, the best jump and the quickest time per event in each year. There will also be a Victor Ludorum and Vitrix Ludorum trophy for the boy and girl with the highest scores in both Junior School (Y3/4) and Upper School (Y5/6).
Lunch will be from 12.00 p.m. to 12.30 p.m. Pupils will be able to sit and have a picnic with their families or with a nominated friend’s family at lunch, or a packed lunch can be provided by the school.
The Year 3/4 events include: High Jump, Long Jump, 60m hurdles, 60m sprint, Vortex Throw, Javelin.
The Year 5/6 events include: High Jump, Long Jump, 60m hurdles, 80m sprint, Shot Put, Javelin.
After lunch, the six fastest boys and girls in each year will race in a 60/80m final and there will also be a 400m final for Years 3 & 4 and an 800m final for Years 5 and 6. The children in these finals are selected from their times recorded in PE lessons earlier in the term. There will also be a ‘Through the Years 4 x 100m Relay’ and a whole school house relay.
We anticipate finishing at approximately 3.00 p.m. Parents should take children home directly from the stadium after the prize giving ceremony. There will be no Funtasia After School Club available for Years 3-6 on this day. We hope very much that parents will be able to attend the event but, if you are unable to attend, please make arrangements for your child to go home with friends on this day.
You are warmly invited to join us for Sports Day to watch your children compete and enjoy a picnic with them. We hope to see you there.
Calendar Reminders
There are a number of events to look forward to next week, as ever!
Monday 19th June - Ark Farm visit to Ducklings.
Tuesday 20th June - Year 1/2 play rehearsals; Year 3/4 Sports Day practice.
Wednesday 21st June - Year 1/2 play rehearsals; Year 5/6 Sports Day practice.
Wednesday 21st June - new parent information evenings for:
New Ducklings parents (5 p.m.)
New Nursery parents (6 p.m.)
New Reception parents (7.30 p.m.)
Thursday 22nd June - Year 1/2 summer play performances at The Compass Theatre.
Details for the Year 1/2 summer play arrangements have been sent to parents previously.
TVC Basketball Sessions For Girls
Thames Valley Cavaliers are starting an All-Girls basketball session this Saturday, 17th June. The sessions will be running at Uxbridge College from 12-1.30pm every Saturday. The first session is free!
Full details are on this flyer.
Staff Lantern Making
Several members of staff followed in the footsteps of Year 2 and created their own stunning lanterns in the Upper School art studio at the end of last week! Many thanks to Mrs. Pruce for organising this social event...it was lovely to see staff creativity being inspired after school on a Friday!
