Weekly News - Friday 23rd February 2024

Owls Class Assembly

Our Owls Reception class delivered a charming assembly to parents on Thursday all about the effect of climate change on the ice caps of Antarctica. They shared a story about Eddie the penguin who was on a journey to find out why his home was melting. He visited many countries, exploring how we could help stop the earth getting warmer and save the polar regions. The solutions he found, communicated by the Owls through wonderful songs, included walking or cycling to school, recycling our rubbish and turning off lights to save energy. The children finished with thoughtful messages about how important it is to protect our amazing planet and a prayer that we might find helpful in doing so. 

The Owls children told us before the assembly about some of the topics they have been exploring in class. You can see a short video here.

Month End Music Recital

We rounded off the week with another super Month End Music Recital in the Evans Hall, where children from Years 1 to 6 entertained us by singing and playing piano, violin and guitar. Very well done to everyone involved. It is a testament to the music department that so many children wish to perform after school on a Friday - these recitals are growing and growing! Thank you also to the families and friends who came along to watch. You can watch a clip of one of our fabulous musicians rehearsing here. 

 

 

Cookery Club

Cookery Club is back! This week the children from Year 5 enjoyed whipping up a tasty feast of nachos with cheese, cauliflower buffalo wings, chicken wings and Mexican rice. This is a terrific opportunity for pupils to get 'hands on' with food preparation and put into practice many aspects of food science they learn in the classroom. 

 

 

 

 

Languagenut Success

We are very proud of how hard the children have been trying on Languagenut, the online learning platform where they practise their modern foreign language (Spanish and French) vocabulary and grammar skills.

Our top five achievers in the school are currently:

Aiden T (Year 6)
Giuseppe D (Year 5)
Riya S (Year 6)
Anika C (Year 6)
Vansh K (Year 5)

Not only are the pupils achieving individually, but in the last fortnight St. Helen's College placed 12th overall in the United Kingdom primary schools challenge, which is a considerable success! 

Another LAMDA Distinction!

Congratulations to Anika C (3B), who achieved a distinction in her recent LAMDA exam, scoring 90% overall!

Re-Purposing Heroes In Year 1

Year 1 are thoroughly enjoying re-purposing old t-shirts into useful bags. They have shown dexterity and control when using the real sewing machine and we have all been delighted with the finished product!

You can see some 'before and after' pictures of their creations here.

Could you be a re-purposing hero too?

 

 

TCS Mini Marathon

The TCS Mini London Marathon is back on Saturday 20th April, the day before the 2024 TCS London Marathon. We can’t wait to make this amazing event bigger and better in its third year! We have only been allocated 50 tickets in the 1 mile race and 50 tickets in the 1.6 km race. So if you would like to join us, please fill in this form as soon as possible.

The deadline for this is Friday 1st March. It is open to children from Reception to Year 6. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and you may be given a place in either distance. If at any point you are no longer able to attend, please contact Mr. Harrington as there are sure to be pupils on the waiting list.

Short Story Competition

We hope that pupils aged 8-11 will want to enter a fabulous short story competition being run by the Royal Mint Museum. Children are invited to write a story (under 500 words) about a ship carrying a cargo including gold coins, which runs into a storm. What happens next? You can find inspiration and details of how to enter at the link below. Good luck! 

https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/learning/short-story-competition/

Author Visit: Zanib Mian

On Tuesday 5th March, children in Years 2 to 5 will be visited by author Zanib Mian, who will inspire them with a talk about becoming an author. There will be an opportunity to pre-order copies of Mian's books which can be signed and dedicated on the day. Full details, including the order link, are available here. Listen to a review of a Planet Omar book by one of our Year 4 pupils here. 

World Book Day

We will be celebrating World Book Day on Friday 8th March. Our theme this year is Read, Recycle, Reuse.

Children may dress up as any book character (no superheroes or footballers please!) We urge you NOT to buy a new outfit for your child; instead, please reuse or recycle outfits where you can. Parents might find Classlist useful for this purpose.

There will be a variety of book themed activities in school on that day, including a house quiz, and pupils may bring in a book to swap with a friend (something appropriate to each child's year group, please).

We are looking forward to celebrating all things book-related and thank you, in advance for your support.

IAPS iArt Competition

The annual IAPS iArt 2024 competition is now open for submissions. The theme this year is 'Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together', a translation of the Olympic motto to celebrate this summer's games. Submissions may be inspired by the Olympics or the theme may resonate in another way; children are encouraged to be as creative as they wish! Shortlisted entrants will receive vouchers for local independent bookshops. There is no set format for entries and artwork can be submitted in any medium; paintings, drawings or models, and of any size and using any art supplies. Full submission details can be found here. To submit an entry, please email a photograph of your named artwork to Mrs. Pruce including the art materials used, your name and class by 19th April. Pupils must complete the following sentence as part of their submission (using 100 words maximum): The theme 'Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together' inspired me to create this piece because...  Shortlisted entries will be invited to an awards ceremony in London in June. Good luck!

Online Safety Evening

We would like to remind you about our upcoming Online Safety session for parents from Ducklings to Year 6 on Wednesday 28th February 2024 at 7.00 p.m. We hope to see as many of you there as possible to discuss what is a growing and vitally important area of child safety in the modern world. The joining link has been sent via SchoolsBuddy.

Gaza Charity Day

This year our school are not going to be taking part in Red Nose Day. Instead, on Friday 15th March, we will be raising money for Save The Children to support children currently suffering in Gaza. We have been thinking about how lucky we are to have warm homes and cosy beds and so on Friday 15th, pupils and staff may come to school in pyjamas in return for a donation of their choice to Save The Children. We will share a JustGiving page in due course and would prefer donations to be made in this way, but children may also bring money into school which will be paid into the same account. We thank you in advance for your support.

New Funtasia Telephone Numbers

From Monday 19th February the new Funtasia contact numbers will be as follows.

Lower School - 01895 699845

Upper School - 01895 699835

Blaze Netball

Our Year 2 pupils thoroughly enjoyed taster sessions run by Blaze Netball Club during their PE sessions today. 

Blaze run sessions on Saturday mornings at Douay Martyrs School for boys and girls looking to start or develop their netball skills, as follows:

Year 1 - 4: 9.30 - 10.30 a.m.
Year 5 & 6: 10.45 a.m. - 12 noon.

If your child is interested in joining in, you can find full details on the Blaze Netball Club website here.

 

Mini-Me Camps

Mini-Me Camps are running an Easter holiday camp at PACCAR Scout Camp. There are limited spaces left available and all friends and family are welcome! Full details, including booking details, are available here.

Next Week

6L swimming all week
Tuesday 27th February - Year 3/Year 4 netball v. Orley Farm 2.30 p.m. (A)
Wednesday 28th February - Football v. Heathrow Primary School 4.00 p.m. (H)
Wednesday 28th February - Online Safety Seminar for Parents 7.00 p.m.
Thursday 29th February - Kingfishers coffee morning/class assembly 8.15 a.m.
Thursday 29th February - JTA Dragons Den pitch at The Battle of Britain Bunker
Friday 1st March - Year 5 netball v. Highgate School 2.45 p.m. (H)