Weekly News - Friday 7th February 2025

1O Class Assembly

On Thursday 1O presented a thoughtful and inspiring class assembly about life skills and personal growth. The children shared the importance of the personal values we embed every day here at St. Helen's College; patience, self discipline, perseverance and determination. They used a clever analogy of a tree to explain how planting the seeds of these values inside ourselves helps us to grow strong and resilient. Well done 1O for sharing a vital lesson and singing so brilliantly about striving to be the very best version of ourselves. You can hear more from some of the children here. 

 

 

5G Class Assembly

Year 5 presented a fascinating class assembly today about the concept of spatial reasoning and how we can develop our awareness of the world around us by building this vital skill into daily life. Tasks such tying shoe laces, reading maps, playing games and puzzles, and fitting objects into the correct sized containers are all problem solving activities based on spatial reasoning skills.

In the classroom 5G have been working with angles and 3D shapes in maths (they are pictured here with their colourful tangrams), created complex origami models and have been exploring spatial vocabulary in English. 

Developing strong spatial reasoning can open the door to many diverse and interesting career paths; architecture, medicine, visual art and engineering are just a few avenues where these skills are utilised. Well done 5G for a very informative insight into all of your hard work and a very polished assembly. 

UKMT Maths Challenge Success

Last week nineteen pupils from Year 5 and 6 participated in the UK Maths Trust Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. Today we were delighted to award all the children certificates of achievement in assembly and celebrate their success in this demanding test. Huge congratulations to the following pupils who achived bronze and silver certificates in recognition of their excellent results:

Bronze certificates - Rayan S (Y6), Shanaya P (Y6), Rohan F (Y6)

Silver certificates - Aaryav K (Y6), Mark DR (Y6), Saayan S (Y6), Ashvika A (Y6), William B (Y5), Mustafa F (Y6), Avar D (Y6), Rohaym U (Y6), Amelia L (Y6)

General Knowledge Quiz

On Tuesday twelve children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 represented St. Helen's College in the first heat of the annual inter-school General Knowledge Quiz. This hotly contested 60 minute online event is organised by the Quiz Club and is an brilliant opportunity for members of the school Quiz Club to put their knowledge to the test, competing against 72 other schools. 

Congratulations to Team 3: Melissa D R (Y3), Rian S (Y4), William B (Y5) and Amelia L (Y6) who finished in 18th place with 1385 points, and are through to the semi-final in March! 

Well done to Team 1: Mia S (Y3), Alicia Z (Y4), Armaan V (Y5) and Rohan F (Y6) who finished 25th with 1310 points and still have a chance to make it through to the next stage, watch this space! Team 2 finished in a very respectable 32nd place with 1240 points, good teamwork from Aayan B (Y3), Anjali S (Y4), Reyan C (Y5) and Rohin M (Y5). 

AI Summit

On Tuesday, four Year 6 children, Ashvika A, Mustafa F, Alexander A and Avar D, attended the world's first Children’s AI Summit at Queen Mary University of London, which brought together children from across the UK to share their messages for global leaders, policymakers, and AI developers on their vision for the future of AI. The children participated in interactive sessions and even had the opportunity to present on stage! They very confidently shared their own views on how AI can positively impact their lives and voiced their concerns about the emerging technology. The children's thoughts and messages will be carried to the Paris AI Action Summit next week. 

 

Dinosaurs Visit Robins and Wrens!

On Friday Robins and Wrens travelled back in time for a fun interactive workshop with 'Dino Girl' from the Travelling Natural History Museum. The children had a roaring time discovering fascinating facts about the different types of dinosaurs, learning how they protected themselves and how they used their senses to hunt. They especially enjoyed examining giant dinosaur teeth and claws! There were lots of laughs and happy faces as they explored the dinosaur models. The session culminated with a thrilling meteorite explosion to demonstrate one of the theories about why dinosaurs became extinct. 

 

Y5 Pedestrian Training

On Thursday Year 5 enjoyed an informative pedestrian training workshop led by the Hillingdon Borough Council STARS Team (School Travel and Road Safety Education team) to equip the children with pedestrian skills to aid safe independent travel. Thank you to the STARS team for this vitally important workshop. 

 

 

 

 

Year 6 Riot Act Workshop (Road Safety)

On Friday it was the turn of Year 6 to participate in a road safety workshop. The children took part in an interactive workshop with The Riot Act to educate them on potential dangers whilst using the roads and how to actively stay safe. The performance prompted some lively and engaging discussion considering the perspectives of many different road users; cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. 

 

 

 

World Book Day & Author Visit 

We are excited to announce that the theme for this year’s World Book Day at St. Helen’s College on Friday 7th March will be non-fiction! To celebrate, we encourage children to dress up as any aspect of their favourite non-fiction book (no football kits, please) and, if possible, bring the book along to share with classmates. Costume ideas could include dressing up as a famous inventor from a book about scientists or as a globe from a book about our planet. Throughout the day, students will enjoy a variety of fun, non-fiction-themed activities designed to spark curiosity and learning. We look forward to seeing their creative costumes and the wonderful books they bring!

To support our focus on non-fiction we are looking forward to welcoming the award-winning astrophysicist Raman Prinja, author of Our Cosmo and Wonders of the Night Sky, to Upper School on Wednesday 5th March for a special talk and book signing. From planets and moons to black holes and asteroids, Professor Raman Prinja will be taking Year 4, 5 and 6 pupils on a spectacular journey through the Universe to discover the seven wonders of our cosmos. This promises to be a fascinating talk and will include an interactive question and answer session at the end. There will be a book signing after the event, please order copies via Chiltern Bookshops in advance here. 

TCS Mini Marathon

The TCS Mini London Marathon is back!  This exciting event which offers school children the opportunity to run part of the official marathon route takes place on Saturday 26 April 2025, the day before the 2025 TCS London Marathon. This year due to popular demand we have been allocated only 25 tickets in the 1 mile race and 15 tickets in the 2.6km race, therefore the event will be open only to children in Year 4, 5 and 6. To enter the ballot for tickets please complete this form by Friday 14th February when the runners will be drawn at random. Please note that children may be offered a place in either distance and may required to run on their own as we are awaiting feedback on the number of adult places available. 

Mindfulness Activity Cards

At St. Helen's College we support the children's emotional regulation with a range of mindfulness techniques and see the huge benefits it can bring to their overall wellbeing. With this in mind parents may be interested in Mindfulness Activity Cards, produced by The Children's Yoga Co, which can be used as a fun and engaging tool to practise mindfulness at home. The cards are suitable for children aged three and above and encourage calmness, focus, and emotional awareness through simple activities that require little or no props, for example crafting, breathwork, visualisation and movement. The cards can be purchased here. 

Parents' Evening

Thank you to all the parents from Ducklings, Nursery and Reception who attended Parents' Evening this week. We hope it was useful and thank you for your continued support. 

Healthy Snacks

Please may we remind parents to adhere to our Healthy Eating Policy and send a small snack for morning breaktime consisting of only fruit, vegetables or plain crackers. Please avoid plastic packaging where possible to support our sustainability goals and kindly be reminded we are a nut free school. 

Next Week

2S swimming all week

Wednesday 12th February  - Football v. Ryefield 

Thursday 13th February - Robins Coffee Morning and Class Assembly

Thursday 13th February - Y6 Netball v. St. Andrews (A)

Friday 14th February - 5R Coffee Morning and Class Assembly 

Friday 14th February - Perform Visit To Lower School