Weekly News - Friday 5th October

We are delighted to announce that St. Helen's College has been shortlisted for the Independent School Parent Magazine Awards for Independent School of the Year 2018. This nomination is a particularly pleasing one, since it recognises pupil experience. A core belief at St. Helen's College is that children learn best when they feel happy, secure and loved, so we are delighted that we have been shortlisted as one of the best independent schools for pupil experience!

Breast Cancer Now

I am so proud of one of our Year 6 pupils, Amar, who delivered a very poignant and informative assembly to Year 4-Year 6 this week. I am sure many of you read the Head's Blog last Friday - this young man really has helped a lot of children to talk both amongst themselves and with adults on a very important topic. Please do take the time to watch the presentation here: https://youtu.be/WjIXuWK23N4

Harvest

Thank you to all the Upper School pupils and parents for attending the service on Tuesday and for all the most generous donations. The Salvation Army were overwhelmed by your generosity. I am sure you will agree that the pupils gave us the most delightful harvest service with song, poetry and prayer. Well done to everyone!

Our Lower School Harvest Assemblies will be taking place on Monday 8th (Nursery), Tuesday 9th (Reception) and Wednesday 10th (Year 1). Each assembly will begin at 8.45 a.m. and parents are warmly invited to watch children perform. The Infant Choir will perform after the Reception assembly and again after the Year 1 assembly.

Prizegiving

Many thanks to those of you who attended Prizegiving last night, either as parents of prize winners or as parents of Chamber Choir children. As ever, it was a magical event at which we celebrated the academic, sporting, musical and dramatic achievements of our prize winners, as well as their personal qualities and contributions to the school. Our Guest of Honour, Jonny Taylor from Merchant Taylors' School, inspired the audience with his entertaining and thought-provoking speech and did a wonderful job of handing out the prizes.

Lower School Parents' Evening

It has been wonderful to meet with so many of our parents in Nursery, Reception and Year 1 this week at the recent parents' evening. It is heartwarming to hear from you all how well your children are settling into a new year group and enjoying the new academic year. Please do remember that if you would like to speak to the teachers for longer then you can make an appointment directly with your teachers.

Sports Results

The District Cross Country event took place on Thursday evening and St. Helen's College children gave a very good account of themselves. There were over 100 runners in both the boys' and girls' races, so the competition was tough. However, Zoe K was crowned the Borough Champion for the girls, finishing in 1st place, Chiara L finished in 8th place and our girls' team finished as bronze medallists. Very well done to the girls: Zoe K, Chiara L, Hebe E, Jada P, Chloe W and Rhea A-V. All of these girls have qualified for the Borough Finals on Monday. Our boys' team finished in 10th place, with Alex C the best placed individual in 24th place overall. 

Last week, our football team got their competitive season off to an impressive start, beating Highfield 4-0 even though the team has not yet had much time together. Very well done to Harrison J, who scored all four goals! This week, the team lost 1-0 on Wednesday to St. Bernadette’s. The team played well and were unlucky not to get a draw on this occasion.

Half Term Holiday Club - Bookings Now Open On SchoolsBuddy

Bookings are now open for Holiday Club which will be running throughout the half term, with optional Breakfast Club each day. Please make your bookings through your SchoolsBuddy account as soon as possible, and by next Friday (12th October) at the latest. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis. A day session runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and this includes a cooked lunch and afternoon tea. Tea will be served at the earlier time of 3.30 p.m. so that, if parents are collecting children early, they will still be able to have tea. The optional Breakfast Club sessions run from 7.30 a.m.

Please note that you may pay by card or select 'voucher payment' which tells us that you are paying by Childcare Voucher or Tax Free Childcare Account. If you would like to pay for some sessions using card, and for some sessions using voucher payment, then you will need to make separate bookings for these - for example, book Monday/Tuesday sessions and pay by card, then book Wednesday/Thursday/Friday sessions and pay by childcare voucher. We hope that you will find the new online booking and payment system easy to use but if you experience any difficulties, please do contact the school office who will be pleased to help.

School Bus and Breakfast Club Bookings Now Open Via SchoolsBuddy

Bookings for the morning bus service and Breakfast Club for the second half of term are also now live on SchoolsBuddy. Please note that, even if you have been a regular user of these services before, you must now book and pay online on SchoolsBuddy to secure your places going forward. 

When you log in to your SchoolsBuddy account, go to the Bookings tab and book the services/sessions you require. 

For Breakfast Club, you may pay by card or select 'voucher payment' which tells us that you are paying by Childcare Voucher or Tax Free Childcare Account. If you would like to pay for some Breakfast Club sessions using card, and for some Breakfast Club sessions using voucher payment, then you will need to make separate bookings for these - for example, book Monday/Tuesday sessions and pay by card, then book Wednesday/Thursday/Friday sessions and pay by childcare voucher. We hope that you will find the new online and payment system easy to use but if you experience any difficulties, please do contact the school office who will be pleased to help.

Childcare Vouchers/Tax Free Childcare Account payments may not be used for School Bus bookings, since by its nature this 'extended care' does not happen on the school premises.

Around School

Please may we request that, when parents are crossing the Upper School Playground, you use the pathway around the outside of the playground instead of cutting across the playground. If you are waiting for Upper School children to be dismissed and have come across from Lower School please may we ask that you wait on Parkway - this alleviates congestion outside the school office.  

Parents are reminded to supervise younger pupils at the Upper School entrance and to be particularly vigilant of the car park areas and the gardens which are cared for so well by Mr. Rizzo.