Weekly News - Friday 25th May 2018

The week has seen two very successful and much-enjoyed residential trips, with pupils returning today from Chateau de la Baudonniere in France and from Flatford Mill in Suffolk. There has also, of course, been much going on here at school...

Wrens Assembly - Minibeasts!

Wrens performed a heartwarming 'minibeasts' assembly on Thursday. They expertly wove the St. Helen's College values into their singing and acting and showed not only that they know a lot about minibeasts but also that they understand the qualities you need to be a good friend. 

3T Assembly - Shortenills Residential Trip

3T gave a splendid assembly this week all about their adventures on their first residential trip to Shortenills Environmental Centre this term. It was wonderful to see them reliving and sharing their favourite moments from their time away - including a new school record for putting on a duvet cover! They are already looking forward to next year's residential trip! 

5G Assembly - Henry VIII

5G were able to educate their audience this week with an assembly all about the life and marriages of Henry VIII. A traditional town crier announced the news of Henry's marriages and we saw Henry as young Henry, middle aged Henry and old Henry! The Tudor costumes worn by the children helped bring to life Henry's court and we saw just what an impact his reign had on British history.

She Rallies Family Fun

On Wednesday the girls in Year 2 and 3 were invited to bring their mothers or grandmothers to take part in a She Rallies tennis event at Upper School. Our pupils put the grown ups through their paces in fun skills challenges and simple racket games, which culminated in an exciting 'Queen of the Court' game to see which family would be crowned the day's queens! Everyone had lots of fun, got some exercise and learnt some new skills. 

FREE Tennis Fun Day

Tripletts Community Tennis Centre is holding a Great British Tennis Weekend fun day on Saturday 2nd June from 2 - 5 p.m. with activities for all the family. Click here to find out what's on offer and to book your place. 

World Environmental Day - Tuesday 5th June 2018

As a school we are keen to get involved with World Environmental Day which falls this year on Tuesday 5th June, just after half term. The focus this year is #BeatPlasticPollution - if you can't reuse it, refuse it!

The children will be involved in many activities on this day (and throughout the week) to raise their awareness of the problems plastic can cause and what we can do to help. The children will also be involved in one 'plastic free' lesson, from outdoor activities to those that persuade people to use less plastic. Along with these activities your child will be given a paper handprint to take home which we will be asking them to decorate and write at least one (up to three) pledges of what they are going to do to reduce their use of plastic. 

For further information please look at the World Environmental Day website. Many thanks, in advance, for your support.

Library News

The new Library Reading Challenges are proving very popular with children. If your child is in Year 2 or above and is not already taking part, please do encourage him or her to join in.

It would also be helpful if parents and pupils would make use of half term to find any overlooked library books, ready to return these to school after the break. The library will soon be launching a new award for the most organised class, which will be given to the class that looks after its books well and has least overdue books.

Uniform/Equipment

Some very organised parents have already asked the school about purchasing uniform or equipment for the next academic year. The uniform list has been updated and the latest version is now live on the website and available here. Please refer to this when buying new uniform or equipment.

PA Summer Fete

It’s that time of year when the PA are busy with “all hands on deck” preparations for our flagship event, the PA Summer Fete.  We would like to ask you to save the date:

Date: Saturday 30th June 2018
Time: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Upper School playground

One of the aims of the PA is to encourage community, friendship and fun for our children, parents and guardians and the wider St. Helen's family. Over the years, the Summer Fete has been a great event where the school community has come together by bringing their ideas, giving their time and providing much enthusiasm.

The fete is organised by the PA committee which, at present, comprises ten full-time working mums. There is still room for more and we would welcome new interest!

We rely on your help for the fete, so please let us know if you can lend a hand. Even half an hour cover on a stall would be greatly appreciated. We would love to have you on board. We are looking for all sorts of help and we will be putting out requests for help in the next few weeks. However, there’s no time like the present so we are looking for immediate responses for the following:

We need you

At least 10 helpers from each year group to commit to helping on the day of the fete - we will start at 8 a.m. and finish clearing up at about 6 p.m. but you don’t need to do the whole stretch. If you can pledge help for all or part of the day, please do let us know. We need help on many levels such as running stalls, serving food, making tea and coffee, face painting, henna art, glitter tattoos, moving chairs and tables, putting marquees up, clearing litter, PA audio technicians and barbecuing. If you feel worried about taking on tasks yourself, why not get a team from your class together? Each class has a class rep, who will also be communicating with you.

We need donations

We would be really grateful for donations of the following (NO BOOKS PLEASE):

Nearly new, good condition soft toys - for the toy tombola
Good condition used / new school uniform – for the uniform stall
Brand new toys - for the raffle and toy tombola stalls
New items or unwanted gifts - for the raffle

If you work for a company who might like to donate anything to the fete please let us know.

Fete collection bins will be put out at the entrances and exits on all three school premises after half term (Ducklings, Lower School and Upper School) for you to bring your donations, so please have a good sort out over half term. We will empty the collection bins on a daily basis. 

Tuck shop

We run a tuck shop where we sell drinks, sweets, ice creams and crisps. If you own a shop or can get reduced/discounted rates, we’d love to hear from you!

Food Stalls

As in previous years, we will be having a range of stalls at the fete to cater for a variety of tastes.  To help us make this happen, we are looking for volunteers to provide the cuisine - this could be anything from African to Mexican, Italian to Thai.  We will also be looking for volunteers to man these stalls. If you are able to provide food for a stall or would like to volunteer to serve on a food stall (even if it’s only for an hour), please do get in touch.   

If you have any ideas or suggestion for the fete, we’d love to hear from you and embrace these. We can only put this event on with your help so please do get in touch.  It's an event that’s really enjoyed by the children and the whole St. Helen's College community. Contact us: pa@sthelenscollege.com

Thank you in advance for all of your help and support to make this year's fete a really special event for everyone!

GDPR

Like many other organisations, St. Helen's College processes personal data and as such we are subject to the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force today. We have always taken great care to protect personal information. The new regulations require that all data must be protected to even higher standards than those required by previous legislation, so we have taken this opportunity to review the data flow in the school and our systems for keeping data secure. We have also taken advice from an external consultant to ensure that these systems are robust and GDPR-compliant. To see how we use and protect your personal data, please see our Privacy Notices which are published on the website here. To speak to someone about the Privacy Notices or to update the information we hold about you, please contact Mrs. Cargill, our Privacy Officer, at scargill@sthelenscollege.com.