Weekly News - Friday 8th December 2023

Christmas Christmas Christmas!

There have been so many exciting Christmas celebrations, trips and activities going on across the school this week.

Our 1R children entertained and informed us on Monday morning with their Christmas assembly at the Methodist Church. Their speaking and singing was first class, with every child contributing confidently and tunefully. It was very interesting to learn of different Christmas celebrations from around the world, and everyone enjoyed hearing the children tell the traditional Christmas story and sing both traditional religious and upbeat modern songs. Well done, 1R!

 

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday it was the turn of our Reception classes, Kingfishers and Owls, to present their Nativity assemblies. The children shared a confident re-telling of the traditional Nativity story in fabulous costumes, every child speaking and singing beautifully. These two performances even included solo singers which is an incredible achievement for such a young year group! Thank you to all our Reception performers for your fantastic work. 

 

 

On Thursday and Friday our Nursery classes, Robins (pictured here) and Wrens, took to the stage for delightful Nativity assemblies. We were treated to sparkling singing and lots of smiles at these joyous and uplifting performances.

It was wonderful to see pupils taking part so confidently in their first public performance at St. Helen's College. We are sure there will be many more to come!

To see more Christmas photographs visit the gallery on the St. Helen's College website.  

 

We were delighted that, as usual, Reverend Ken Kingston spoke to each of the Lower School classes following their Christmas assemblies. This year, he had a special twist up his sleeve: a donkey costume which Ms Drummond bought for him last year, after he had admired the donkey costumes in the St. Helen's College 2022 nativities!  The Methodist Church will be holding a special family 'Carols and Christingle' Christmas celebration on Sunday 17th December at 6.00 p.m. Everyone is welcome. 
 

At Ducklings, our youngest children have been very busy creating festive decorations and cards, learning about the story of Christmas and exploring the traditional Nativity scene. 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, everyone wore Christmas jumpers to school and enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch. A huge thank you to all the Accent staff for their hard work. We were disappointed to have to postpone Carols Around The Tree, but hope to see you all on Monday afternoon for the re-arranged event, weather permitting.

 

 

We also held Festive Footsteps on Thursday. This was our JTA (Junior Travel Ambassador) team's latest incentive to encourage parents and children to walk, scoot or cycle for either part or all of the journey to school using our park and stride map. Our JTA team, in their green Santa hats, marshalled the route through Court Park, admiring some lovely Christmas jumpers and decorated bikes and scooters along the way! Well done to all of those who participated.

Hana H, Grace O'H and Anna K (Year 6) were very pleased with the outcome of their raffle this week. They raised a total of £145 for Cancer Research UK. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket.

We were delighted with the efforts of all of our pupil artists who submitted designs for the Centenary Christmas Card competition. The standard of entries was incredibly high. There were two winning designs, from twins Zoravar and Naseeb D in Year 1, whose outstanding artwork will be adorning the official school digital Christmas card this year. Congratulations!

Theatre Trips

The first two of our Upper School class Christmas trips took place this week too. On Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 visited London's Peacock Theatre to watch a very special Sadler's Wells performance of The Snowman.

Parents might like to take children of any age to The Snowman Walking Trail in the Fleet Street area of London over the Christmas break. You can see details here:
https://wildinart.co.uk/events/walking-with-the-snowman-at-fleet-street-quarter/

On Friday, Year 2 enjoyed an entertaining trip to Dick Whittington, the seasonal pantomime at the Compass Theatre in Ickenham. The pupils relished the opportunity to travel to the theatre by tube and, once there, delighted in the songs, dancing and jokes. Everyone certainly entered into the fun spirit of the occasion. 

Online Safety

As part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our pupils safe online, we would like to remind parents that we are members of National Online Safety, a platform that we use for our online safety curriculum and for training staff. Parents can also access the resources, including courses and webinars around online safety, using the following link: https://nationalcollege.com/enrol/st-helen-s-college

We also have a date for your diaries. Mrs. Hunt and Mr. McLaughlin will be hosting an online evening to discuss specific, topical online safety concerns for primary-aged children on Wednesday, February 28th at 7 p.m. We will send the joining link nearer the time.

Chamber Choir Visit to Chalfont Lodge Care Home

On Friday our talented Chamber Choir visited Chalfont Lodge Care Home to spread some Christmas cheer to the elderly residents. The choir enchanted the audience with their beautiful performance of Believe (Lin Marsh), The Colours of Christmas (John Rutter) and Believe (Glen Ballard & Alan Silvestri). They were then joined by the residents to sing a selection of festive feel-good numbers including Jingle Bells, Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. It was a special moment for St. Helen's College Headmistresses present and past, as Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Crehan and Ms Drummond were together for the first time.

 

Recipe Pack 

Chef Soula has shared this lovely December recipe pack for you to try with your children at home. We hope that you will have fun cooking together over the holidays!

Oak Farm Library

Oak Farm Library will be running some lovely events for children over the Christmas holidays. You can find details here. 

Dance School

The Lynne Chilver School of Dance has been popular with St. Helen's College pupils for many years. They run lessons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Methodist Church on Long Lane. Please click here for more information. 

Free Basketball Tickets!

Once again St. Helen's College pupils have access to free tickets for this weekend's Thames Valley Cavaliers basketball fixtures at Uxbridge College Sports Centre. Full details are here.

Next Week

Monday 11th December - Lower School Party Day (children should wear party clothes)
Monday 11th December - Year 3 Roman Day
Monday 11th December - Carols Around The Tree 3.00 p.m.
Tuesday 12th December - Year 3 & 4 trip to Peter Pan
Wednesday 13th December - Year 2-6 Carol Service at All Saints' Church, 11.15 a.m.
Wednesday 13th December - End of Term.
Half Day Finish Times - 11.50 a.m. (Ducklings & N); 12.00 p.m. (R); 12.10 p.m. (Y1,2); 12.20 (Y3,4); 12.30 (Y5,6)