Weekly News - Friday 23rd November 2018

6M taught us all a superb lesson today on the importance of grammar and punctuation through their entertaining assembly. For anyone who feels a bit discombobulated about their conjunctions, prepositions, apostrophes etc., these young children are such great ambassadors and they clearly know their stuff! Well done 6M!

SEWA Assemblies

We were delighted to welcome Karthik back to St. Helen's College this week for his third visit to assemblies to remind us all to be the best we can be in our acts of selfless service. Pupils in Middle School and Upper School were also congratulated as we read out our value spotters for the acts of kindness which had been acknowledged around the school this week. It is important that our awareness of acts of kindness is raised, no matter how small that act is. Selfless service is all about giving joy to others, looking after our environment and making our world a better place for us all.

You can see the presentation used by Karthik in the assemblies here. For more information about the SEWA organisation, you might like to visit their website at www.sewaday.org

Sports News

Quick Sticks Hockey Tournament

On Friday afternoon last week, eight of our pupils travelled to Eastcote Hockey Club for the annual Quick Sticks borough tournament. We had two teams of four entered into the tournament, each playing matches in a group with four other teams, with the winners definitely going through alongside the top two runners-up out of the six groups. Unfortunately our A team didn't make it through but our B team gained one of the runners-up spots. In the quarter final, our B team went 2-0 down but staged an amazing comeback to win 3-2, with children and parents very excited! In the semi-final, we took the lead but unfortunately lost 2-1 which meant that we finished in third place. There was some great hockey played by both teams with all children and parents really enjoying the afternoon. A team: Jayan C, Luke J, Hebe E, Mya S. B team: Aditya S, Alex C, Tamara A, Ionie M.

London Youth Games Run

Congratulations to Zoe K (Year 6), who was selected to represent Hillingdon at the London Youth Games cross country event held at Parliament Hill last weekend, after winning the borough cross country competition earlier this term. Zoe was one of 165 runners competing from across London's 33 boroughs. The course was very challenging as it included going up the dreaded Hampstead Heath Hill on both laps of the course. It was a great day for racing, with some beautiful weather, and Zoe had a good race, finishing in 1st place for Hillingdon borough and 18th place overall. Zoe is following in the footsteps of another famous London runner who also took part in this event - Sir Mo Farah represented Hounslow in cross country at the London Youth Games, placing 9th in the 1994 under-13s race! We will follow Zoe's running career with interest!

Charity Efforts

We are pleased now to be able to announce the totals raised for the following charities:
Children In Need - £1,625.95
British Legion Poppy Appeal - £234.34

Many thanks indeed to everyone who contributed to either charity via school. Your generosity is much appreciated.

Month End Music Recital

Parents are reminded that the November Month End Music Recital will take place next Friday (30th November) in the Evans Hall from 3.45 p.m. All are welcome, so please do come along to this lovely informal recital to hear the children play a variety of instruments.

Christmas Tree Decoration Competition 2018

Just a reminder that, as usual, we will be running our annual Christmas tree decoration competition for all children. The trees will be put up in school on 25th November and the children should bring in their beautifully hand decorated, creative decorations from Monday 3rd December. There will be a winner in each year group. Please can the children remember to label their decoration with their name and class.

Switch Off Fortnight

Our Eco Team will continue to promote Switch Off Fortnight next week, reminding everyone to save energy by turning off lights and electrical devices whenever possible, both at home and in school. We hope that you and your children will make it a lasting habit to save energy wherever possible.