Weekly News - Friday 6th October 2023

Year 3 Trip To St. Albans

On Monday, Year 3 had their first school trip of the year to St. Albans Cathedral. When they arrived the children met a Roman soldier before taking part in a mosaic making workshop and a drama workshop, where they acted out the life of St. Alban as they toured the cathedral.

IAPS Clay Art Workshop

Also on Monday, Mrs. Pruce had pleasure of hosting a Clay Workshop at St. Helen's College in her role as subject leader for IAPS. It was a fantastic day of sharing creativity with other art teachers. The course lead was Emma Collins, with whom we have had the pleasure of working previously here at St. Helen's College. The day began with exploring the different ways to make and shape different types of clay and then, in the afternoon, a sense of calm and quiet came over the room as the delegates became mindful of the activity and embraced the opportunity to be active artists themselves. Feedback from the delegates was superb.
 

Open Morning

On Tuesday morning, we welcomed many prospective new families to tour the school and meet current staff and children. Our Year 6 pupils did a wonderful job of showing new families around at Upper School and, as always, really impressed our visitors with their confidence and love for St. Helen's College, their studies and their extra-curricular activities.

Year 2 Stone Age Day

On Wednesday our Year 2 children enjoyed an immersive day of learning about the Stone Age. The day was a huge success. The children looked amazing in their Stone Age costumes and they enjoyed an action packed day of activities which included Stone Age Maths, Nature Collages, We Will Rock You Music, Cave Painting, Rock Painting, Food Tasting and Clay Faces. The day enriched their history learning and everyone had a Yabadabadoo time!

Netball Result

The Year 6 Netball Team played a great first netball match on Wednesday afternoon, finishing with a 3-2 home win. The team rotated through positions and showed great versatility. They went into the last quarter drawing 2-2 and kept calm, maintaining possession and securing a well deserved win.

Well done to all who played and congratulations to Sofia K, who was awarded player of the match by the opposing team's players and coach.

4B coffee morning/class assembly

On Friday, class 4B performed a super assembly, celebrating the fact that our school is turning one hundred years old this year. The children told us about school in the 1920s which seemed to be very strict! They showed us a traditional dance which children would have learnt at that time and gave us a taster of what life was like then, with no school kitchen, smart boards or cars to travel in. We thought about how we can learn from the past and how we do not know what the future will hold for us. The children were excited to tell the audience about their parents and older siblings who had attended St. Helen's College. The assembly ended with a rousing performance of our school song. Well done, 4B, on an enjoyable and informative performance!

Ducklings/Nursery/Reception parents' evenings

Thank you to all of the parents who joined us for the first Ducklings, Nursery and Reception parents' evenings of the year on Wednesday evening. It was lovely to see you all and we hope that you found the conversations about your children interesting and helpful. The next parents' evening for our Early Years classes will take place next week on Thursday 12th October.

Messages From The PA

Please mark your calendars for our upcoming uniform stall on October 24, 2023, during the half-term break. We have placed uniform donation bins outside the Upper and Lower School buildings. Please drop off any unwanted uniform there before the half-term holiday. Let's support one another, save on uniform costs, and promote sustainability!

Quiz Night at The White Bear!

Date: Wednesday, October 11th
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: The White Bear in Ruislip

Join us for an evening of fun, trivia, and friendly competition. Spaces are limited, so be sure to secure your spot by using the Google Form link: https://forms.gle/cPnxNAbvxb7kX3oDA. 

If you would like to join but do not have a team, please let your class rep know via Class List and we will do our best to link you in to a team.

Looking forward to seeing you there!
 

Staff News

Congratulations to Mrs. Smith, who discovered today that she has been awarded a distinction for her MA!

Class List

The Parents' Association have adopted the Class List app for all of their communications. If you have not already downloaded Class List and signed up, please do so as soon as possible so that you do not miss out on communications from the PA about events and more. Parents are encouraged to use Class List to communicate with parent class groups and/or with other parents from across the school. 

Next Week

4B swimming all week

Tuesday 10th October - Year 1 coffee morning and Harvest assembly (8.15 a.m.)
Tuesday 10th October - U11 girls' football tournament at Radlett Prep School (1.00 p.m.)
Wednesday 11th October - U11 boys' football tournament at Manor Lodge School (1.00 p.m.)
Wednesday 11th October - Y6 netball match v. St. Bernadette's (3.45 p.m.) - home
Wednesday 11th October - PA Quiz Night at The White Bear, Ruislip (7.00 p.m.)
Thursday 12th October - Ducklings, Nursery and Reception parents' evenings at Lower School (5.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.)
Friday 13th October - 3M coffee morning/class assembly (8.15 a.m.)

Term Dates 2024-2025

The term dates for the academic year 2024-2025 have now been published to the school website and are available here.

BBC 500 Words Competition

500 Words, the UK’s most successful children’s writing competition, has now opened for submissions and will run until Friday 10th November. Children of all abilities are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination to write a story they would love to read.

You can find out more on the BBC website here, or on the information poster. Good luck submitting your entries - do please let us know of any successes as not only are there excellent individual prizes to be won (including going to Buckingham Palace and being on The One Show), but the school also stands to win a range of books for any successful entries!

Half Term Chess Camp

Uxbridge Chess Club are running a half term camp which might be of interest to those looking to improve their chess skills and have fun at the same time. Full details are here.

Football Development Sessions For Girls

Ickenham Youth FC are running some mini development sessions for girls on Saturday mornings. If you have a daughter in Reception to Year 3 who might be interested in joining in, you can find details here.