Weekly News - Friday 17th January 2025

Co-Curricular Clubs

The busy spring term programme of co-curricular clubs began this week and it has been super to see the children enjoying all of the activities on offer. These include our language clubs, gardening and nature clubs, arts/crafts clubs, sports clubs, music clubs and more. Education is about much more than classroom learning; developing wider talents and interests can often provide the key to a happy and fulfilling life, so thank you for encouraging your children to try new activities and find the joy in them.

Year 5 Transfer Meetings

It was good to see the Year 5 parents who came for individual senior school transfer meetings with Ms Drummond this week. We hope you found these helpful. There will be a further round of individual meetings next Tuesday and next Saturday.

Salvation Army Collection

In December the St. Helen's College community generously donated gifts for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal and we have received a message of thanks from the organisation;

'Please accept our sincere gratitude for the amazing amount of gifts donated by St. Helen’s College this year. The quantity and quality of gifts received never ceases to amaze us, and that people are so willing to help others less fortunate than themselves is both humbling and heart-warming.'

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the collection and to the Charity Team for co-ordinating this initiative. 

 

Speech Competition

One of the highlights of the spring term each year is our annual Speech Competition (for Years 1 - 6) and our Poetry Recital (Nursery and Reception). Your children will receive their poems from their teachers during the course of the term; please do help them to learn their pieces and allow them plenty of opportunity to practise when they bring their poems home. The children's oracy and communication skills were highlighted as a 'significant strength' of St. Helen's College in our recent ISI inspection, and the Speech Competition, a long-standing tradition at the school, is one of many contributing factors to this. Not every child will win their year group or be presented with the overall winner's shield, of course - but each and every pupil who participates will experience the joy of learning a poem by heart, the pleasure of putting expression into their words and the benefit of developing clear, well-projected speech.

Library Reading Challenges 

Super library habits abound in Year 2, with the children learning how to use the library independently and how to enjoy exploring books and reading with each other, and by themselves. Last term saw books issued over 900 times to Year 2 alone! The children are learning how to keep their books safely, to take them home and to return them, all valuable library skills which need to be learnt and practised at this young age. Thank you very much for your support with fostering these independent skills.

January sees the start of Reading Challenges in Year Two. These optional activities are a lovely way to guide the children to read and talk about different kinds of stories, and they delight in ticking off their progress and achieving their certificates and House Points! The children have been really excited to start. All children are welcome to take part if they would like, with small groups of children taking part at a time so that each child has enough time to discuss their stories, and often share recommendations with their classmates. We predict a great deal of reading ahead!

Emotional Support

Everyone experiences worries from time to time and for children in particular they can become scary and overwhelming. With this in mind 'How My Worry Works' by Big Life Journal is a useful selection of strategies which parents can help implement to support children to identify and manage worries before they reach this stage.

School Open Events

St. Helen's College will be welcoming prospective parents to a 'School At Work' Open Morning across all sites on Wednesday 26th February from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. to showcase our busy and hard working school. On this day, pupil guides will show prospective parents around the school and there will be an opportunity for visiting families to meet with the Head, the Director of Admissions and the Head of Lower School. All visitors must register to attend in advance here. 

We are also looking forward to hosting a free Year 3 Taster Day, on Tuesday 4th March from 8.30 to 11.30 a.m. for children eligible for entry into this year group in September 2025.  At this event parents will have a chance to meet the Head before leaving children with our teaching staff for an exciting and fun morning of learning, playing and making new friends. The children will have an opportunity to explore the school site, including the Science Lab, Art Studio, Year 3 classrooms and playground equipment, and will enjoy age-appropriate specialist teaching sessions in English, art and science, a Spanish taster session with our specialist Spanish teacher, and play time with their new friends. Please do share this with any parents with appropriately aged children who might wish to attend, spaces must be booked in advance here. 

Next Week

Wednesday 22nd January - Year 4 Trip to Amersham Field Centre
Wednesday 22nd January - Year 2 Great Fire of London Theatre Company Visit
Wednesday 22nd January - Netball v. Orley Farm School (H)
Wednesday 22nd January - Football v. Heathrow Primary School (H)
Thursday 23rd January - Netball v. St. Catherine's Primary School (H)
Friday 24th January - 6H Coffee Morning and Class Assembly 
Friday 24th January - Year 3 Pedestrian Training