Weekly News - Friday 7th June 2024

Centenary Celebrations

As we begin the final half term of our Centenary year we have some very special events coming up, so please make sure you have the following dates in your diary.

Saturday 22nd June - PA Centenary Summer Fete (please see below)
Friday 5th July - Lower School Art Exhibition
Tuesday 9th July - Centenary Fun Day for Pupils
Thursday 11th July - Upper School Centenary Concert and Art Exhibition (please see below)

TfL Top Schools Award and STARS Gold Accreditation

We are delighted to receive a TfL Travel for Life ‘Top Schools Award 2024’. St. Helen's College has been highly commended for ‘Creativity and Innovation' in support of active and safer travel initiatives. We have also received renewed Gold Level accreditation until 2026. This recognises the vital work of the passionate and committed STARS Junior Travel Ambassadors who have been instrumental in promoting the importance of this. Keep up the good work! 

 

 

SATIPS Art Exhibition 'People's Choice' Winner 

Artwork submitted by Pavan S (Year 6) has been awarded 'The People's Choice' at the SATIPS Art Exhibition hosted by Moreton Hall in Shropshire in April. This is a terrific achievement as the standard of entries from other prep schools across the country was extremely high this year. Pavan has been awarded a beautiful sketchbook and certificate to mark her success, and we hope she will enjoy creating many more beautiful pieces of art. 

 

 

 

SATIPS Handwriting Competition

Pupils from Year 1 to 6 have submitted entries to the annual SATIPS handwriting competition. The children are required to write out a set poem for their age category, in pencil, in their very best handwriting to be judged against entries from other Prep schools from across the country. Winners will be announced at the beginning of the autumn term and receive a prize and certificate.

Meanwhile we are celebrating the talents of our students with our own St. Helen's College in-house handwriting competition. A winner from each year group has been selected, each of whom has received a special framed copy of their submitted handwritten poem. Year 4, 5 and 6 winners have been announced; congratulations to Amara B, Arya A and Pavan S. The winners for Year 1, 2 and 3 will be announced in assembly on Monday. Huge congratulations to the overall school winner, Amara B, who has been awarded a very smart fountain pen in recognition of her hard work. 

Singing Competition Finalists 

The finalists for the Singing Competition have been announced! We had a terrific response and would like to say well done to everyone who submitted an entry. The standard was very high. Congratulations to all of the pupils who have made it through to the final on Friday 14th June, when they will perform the song of their choice for their parents, peers and our guest judge Jessica Bergman (soprana and music teacher) . The finalists are:

Year 2: Amina H, Sikhya R, Anika S
Year 3: Alicia Z, Tansy M, Anoushka B
MS groups: Eleanor, Alicia and Sanaya; Arahya and Anika

Year 4: Avleen P, Alyssa P, Leo A, Gurdaya J
Year 5: Rohan F, Alexander A, Diya B, Zinnia M
Year 6: Hana H, Pavan S, Samara P, Senna G
US groups: Anna, Grace, Hana and Samara; Pavan and Zarifa; Avleen & Gurdaya

Author Caroline Boxall Visits Year 6

It was a great pleasure to welcome author Caroline Boxall to school on Monday. The author of 'The Secret Children of Mumbai' and 'The Runaway Children of Chennai', Caroline ran workshops for our two Year 6 classes and certainly inspired the children by telling them all about how she became an author, how she gets the ideas for her books and how the children could themselves become published writers! She also introduced her International Creative Writing Competition for children to have the opportunity to write their own story and win copies of her books.

Signed and personalised books are available to order here. The link will remain open for another week or so; please order asap if you would like a signed copy delivered to school.  

Upper School Centenary Concert And Art Exhibition - Thursday 11th July

We are delighted to invite Upper School parents to join us for our Centenary Art Exhibition and Centenary Concert at the Winston Churchill Hall in Ruislip on Thursday 11th July. This special event will celebrate the arts at St. Helen's College. Every child in Years 2 - 6 will have at least one piece on show at the art exhibition and all three school choirs, the school orchestra and many soloists will be performing at the evening concert. Our string group and guitar ensemble will be performing in the foyer before the concert, so parents of children who are performing only in these two groups will not necessarily need to book tickets for the concert (although are welcome to do so). Please read the following information carefully and book your tickets soon!

Art Exhibition

The exhibition will be open from 3.30 - 5.00 p.m. on Thursday 11th July, and again from 6.00 - 6.45 p.m.

The art exhibition is open to all SHC families. Every child in Years 2 - 6 will have at least one piece of art at the exhibition. We will also be offering you a drink to enjoy while you peruse the artwork. 

Tickets for the art exhibition are priced at £5 per family (not per person) and you may come and go as many times as you please during the opening hours. Displayed work from the exhibition, which is being mounted and packaged appropriately, will be sent home with your child on the final day of the summer term.

Evening Concert

Many children will be performing at the concert in the evening on Thursday 11th July, including those in the school choirs and orchestra. Parents will need to buy tickets for this event, and these will be made available first to parents of performers. If any remain unsold after a fortnight, these will then be made available to other families. 

Tickets are priced at £15 per person for the evening concert, which will begin at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m. for visits to the art exhibition).

Please book your tickets through SchoolsBuddy.

We hope that you will support this exciting event, which we are sure will provide a fitting end to our Centenary year!

New Reading Scheme Books

Reading is the key to success and we are huge champions here at St. Helen's College. Year 2 were excited today to discover some of the hundreds of new reading scheme books recently added to our extensive collection. The updated selection includes children's classics alongside titles exploring more current topics such as Black History Month, neurodiversity and wellbeing. We are lucky to have so many avid readers in the school, we hope parents will enjoy listening to children reading the new books at home too. 

 

Sports News

On Thursday it was our Pre-Prep Sports Day at Court Park. Children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had a wonderful day taking part in a variety of sports and games in the sunshine. It was a great day to see the children enjoying all the activities and the children were delighted with the rosettes they achieved. You can see some photographs of them having fun on the Galleries page here.

 

On Monday our cricket A team travelled to Highgate while the B team played a fixture against Highgate at home.

The A team played confidently and won by a comfortable 30 runs (56 - 86). The boys bowled and batted extremely well, taking 5 wickets in a 12 over game. 

The B team had a lovely afternoon producing some excellent cricket, especially with the ball, and winning 58 - 9. The game finished quite quickly, so we played a second, shorter game and we were again victorious, 32 - 19.

It was super to see the boys all enjoying their cricket so much. They have all clearly improved over the season so far.

Name The Bear Competition

To celebrate our centenary year we are running a 'name the bear' competition for all pupils to have the opportunity to christen our new St. Helen's College special centenary teddy bear. Entry is £1 which should be brought into school by Wednesday 12th June. All funds raised will be donated to the Four Paws animal preservation charity. The winning entry in each class will receive a centenary teddy bear and will be entered into the final draw for the overall winner. Pupils can be as imaginative and fun as they please with their names for the bear, you can hear more about the competition here. We look forward to hearing their suggestions!

Month End Music Recital

Our Month End Music Recital today was, as always, very well attended by families, staff and pupils. It was a joy to hear the children's pieces on piano, recorder, trombone, violin, flute, cello and trumpet, as well as some beautiful vocal performances. Very well done to all those who took part and good luck to everyone who will be practising hard for ABRSM exams over the next month or so!

LAMDA Exams

We would like to wish our LAMDA pupils the best for tomorrow, when they will be taking a range of drama and public speaking LAMDA examinations here at St. Helen's College. Good luck!

Summer Fete, Father's Day And Sports Day - Messages From The PA

Only two weeks to go until the summer fete! The summer fete will be extra special this year as we will be celebrating the school's centenary year. The event is open to all SHC families, friends and the wider community. Please note that it is a cash only event.

The success of the much anticipated fete relies on the support of all families to give time and donations where they can. This year we are short on volunteers and donations, so please contact your class rep as soon as possible to see where you can help on your allocated stall.

There will be barrels out for donations of any toys, teddies and uniforms at both Upper and Lower School entrances from this Monday onwards.

The PA has two other events coming up, as follows.

A Father's Day stall will run on Friday 14th June for children to buy a gift for a cherished male figure in their life:

- Upper School: Before school, at break time and after school (cash only)

- Lower School: Before and after school (cash and card accepted).

The PA will also have a refreshments stall running at the Upper School Sports Day on Friday 21st June and we are in need of parents to volunteer some time on this stall; please contact your class rep if you are able to spare some time on the day.

Summer School 2024

Summer School will be running at PACCAR Scout camp from 5th - 9th August for Years 3 - 6. This will be a fun-packed week of thrilling outdoor activities including climbing, archery and a day of water sports at nearby Taplow lake. Full details have been sent directly to parents and there are now just a few places left. If you would like to book a space for your child, you can do so through your SchoolsBuddy account. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. The St. Helen’s College Holiday Club will run at school for children in Nursery - Year 2 as usual during this week. 

Reminders

All children from Reception to Year 6 should arrive at school in their summer uniform and wearing a blazer, unless it is a PE kit day. School hats (felt cap, summer boater) may be worn if children have them; sun hats must always be with your child. 

Please ensure that you have applied sun cream to your child's skin on hot days.

Next Week

Tuesday 11th June - Friday 14th June - Y2 and 3 First Maths Challenge
Wednesday 12th June - Y2 and 3 First Maths Challenge
Wednesday 12th June - Kingfishers Coffee Morning and Class Assembly 
Friday 14th June - Singing Competition
Friday 14th June - PA Father's Day Stalls