Weekly News - Friday 20th September 2024

Fun in Year 1

It has been a busy, fun week in Year 1 filled with learning. Both classes enjoyed taking a walk to the local postbox to post letters home.

 

 

 

 

 

The Year 1 children have also been very busy in their Spanish lessons, learning the names of various minibeasts. After learning new vocabulary they took their learning outside to see if they could find arañas (spiders), hormigas (ants) and caracoles (snails).

 

Cycle To School Week

Next week is Bikeability's 'Cycle to School' week, an event championed by our Junior Travel Ambassadors. Cycling is a terrific way to stay healthy, protect the environment and save money. We are looking forward to seeing lots of children supporting this venture and making good use of our lovely new bike shed. 

If your child is in need of a bike, you might be interested in a company recommended by one of our parents, who has recently used them. As well as selling great quality recycled bikes, being sustainable and repairing bikes, Recycle-A-Bike is a not-for-profit company who work on bringing adults with mental health illnesses back into employment. A lot of their staff at the bike shop and at the adjacent cafe within the park are supported by them. The prices are really economical - a new bike recently purchased by a St. Helen's College parent should have been around £650 but was on sale for £150!

The details are:

The Yard
Rockingham Parade
Uxbridge
UB8 2UW

(Within Fassnidge Park)

Bringing Out The Best In Your Child

We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Elaine Halligan of The Parent Practice back to St. Helen's College for a parenting workshop, as she has been so well received in previous years. Elaine will be delivering her online workshop ‘Bringing Out The Best In Your Child’ on Wednesday 25th September at 7.30 p.m. The fact that she is able to reach so many parents via webinar is wonderful, so please do make every effort to attend this session, which is paid for by the school.

All parents want the very best for their children and want to see their children be successful and happy. Sometimes we worry that our children don’t seem to be achieving all they are capable of, we worry that they are not trying hard, that they won’t try new things or that they give up too easily. Elaine's webinar looks at ways of motivating children to do their best without nagging or pressurising them.

The talk covers:  
- ways of motivating children to want to do their best 
- the importance of self esteem to ensure cooperative children
- how to focus on the positive aspects of your child’s behaviour, no matter how small they are 
- being aware of the negativity bias and the impact it has 
- how to encourage your child to try hard and to persevere
- practical ways of setting things up so that children are likely to get it right.

All registered attendees will receive a comprehensive handout with an overview of the webinar content. In order to join you need to register via this link beforehand so please do so this week:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrf-mprzkoEtyiTguUIZUhBrrSQlPuK4xY

Co-Curricular Clubs

Co-curricular clubs started this week and it has been super to see the children enjoying the many activities on offer.

Please note that PE/Games kits are required for football, netball, running and basketball clubs; if your child would usually be wearing school uniform on the day of these clubs, they should bring their sports kit and change at break time or lunch time. For other sports clubs, your child should bring a pair of trainers in a drawstring bag on the day of the club, which they will wear with their school uniform. 

School Photographs

Individual and sibling pupil photographs will be taken on Thursday 26th September for Nursery - Year 6. Sibling photographs will take place before school from 7.40 a.m. at Upper and Lower School. Ducklings individual photographs will take place on Monday 25th November; however, Ducklings are welcome to join siblings for group photographs on Thursday 26th September.

Ducklings and Lower School Parents' Evenings

Parents' evenings will take place for all of Ducklings, Nursery, Reception and Year 1 on 2nd and 10th October from 4 - 7 p.m. Please follow the link below to book your appointments.
Parents' Evening Bookings

Money Day - 4th October

We would very much like to hear from parents who wish to get involved in our upcoming Money Day on Friday 4th October. Financial literacy forms one of the threads in our Life Skills programme here at St. Helen's College and this special focus day will include a range of interactive workshops, exciting events and fun activities to educate pupils on spending and saving, bills and budgeting, online and electronic payments, career choices and more. The overarching theme for the day will be: Saving Money and Protecting our Planet. If any parents work in a maths or money related role and would like to get involved in running a session or contributing to an assembly, please email Mrs. McLaughlin at pmclaughlin@sthelenscollege.com as soon as possible so that staff may work with you to organise exciting and educational sessions for the children. 

Music Lessons

Individual music lessons are offered at school taught by our team of specialist music teachers, many of whom work professionally in the music industry. From Reception, children can learn the violin or the cello, and from Year 2 children can learn a wider variety of instruments including flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, piano, singing and guitar (NB: guitar can be learnt from Year 3). 

There are currently spaces available to begin this term for the following instruments: Flute, Trumpet, Trombone and 'Cello. The waiting list is open for all other instruments. Please complete this Google Form for further information and to register your child. For any further queries, please contact Mrs. Fawbert on cfawbert@sthelenscollege.com. 

Voices In Accord: Melodies For Mind

North Hillingdon Methodist Church will be hosting an afternoon of song, conduction by Alison Elcoat, in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association on Saturday, 21st September at 2.45 p.m. No tickets are required to attend this event, but there will be a retiring collection for MND. All are welcome to turn up at the church in time for the music, at 260 Long Lane, Hillingdon, UB10 9PB, just in front of our Lower School site.

Next Week

Tuesday 24th September - Year 4 Ancient Greek Day
Tuesday 24th September - Year 2 Visit to Chiltern Open Air Museum 
Wednesday 25th September - Reception Class Trip to Odds Farm 
Wednesday 25th September - Year 5 Trip to Hampton Court
Wednesday 25th September - 'Bringing Out The Best In Your Child' webinar 
Thursday 26th September - Individual and Optional Sibling School Photographs (Nursery - Y6)
Friday 27th September - Month End Music Recital

Mini-Me Camps - October Half Term 

Mini-Me Camps will be running a holiday camp at PACCAR from 28th to 31st October (during half term). Details and onine booking are available here.