St Helen’s Catholic Junior School Academy

WE ARE A NUT-FREE SCHOOL

Dates for the week

9th July Last day to book school dinners for W/C 16th July

9th July 1:30pm Year 6 Production dress rehearsal

10th July 4:00pm – 6:00pm Open Evening

10th July 6:30pm Induction meeting for parents of the children joining us in September 2018 in Year 3.

11th July 7:00pm Year 6 Production

13th July Last day of clubs

13 July Year 6 trip to France

16th July 6:00pm Leavers’ Mass, for Year 6 children and their parents

16th July End of year reports to be sent to parents

16th July 9:45am Awards Assembly (Invitation only)

18th July 4:00pm-5:00pm Parents can see the class teachers to discuss the content of end of year reports.

19th July 11:00am End of year Mass, parents welcome

19th July End of year discotheque 5:00pm-6:00pm Year 3, 4, 5 6:30pm-7:30pm Year 6

3A

Cooper Thomson 5A

Alex Chapman

3B Eleanor Rowe

5B Krithika Jeyakumar

3C The Whole Class

5C Issy Rechten

4A Katie Dancey

6A Leo Brown

4B Callum Adams

6B Regan Clarke

4C Suhas Chekuri

6C Gabriella Chavoush-Heath

Attendance

3A 98.0%

4A 97.0% 5A 99.0% 6A 99.0%

3B 98.0%

4B 95.0% 5B 95.0% 6B 99.0%

3C 95.0%

4C 99.0% 5C 99.0% 6C 99.0%

Music Showcase

Thank you to the young instrumentalists who took part in the showcase on Wednesday. We were treated to a truly professional performance of classical and popular music pieces.

Thank you to Mrs Romhany who conducts and rehearses the orchestra and wind band. Her infectious enthusiasm for music inspires all children who learn music at St. Helen’s.

I would like to thank Mrs Maddox and Mr Laraway for working with the children and preparing them so well, not only for this showcase but throughout the year.

Class Assembly DVDs

These are available to order from the school office. Please note the DVDs are in an MP4 format. These can be played on computers/laptops and DVD players that support the MP4 format. DVDs are £5.00.

www.st-helens-jun.essex.sch.uk

6th July 2018 NEWSLETTER 38 NEWS

Visitors from China

A group of eight staff and seven pupils from St Alban’s International School in Lian Yungang visited our school on Wednesday. The Chinese pupils spent the day in Year 5 and took part in all lessons.

Children made immediate friendship links and enjoyed participating in lessons, particularly in PE on the school field.

Our Chinese colleagues talked to staff about our curriculum, teaching and learning and assessment.

We were very proud to show our best practice and curriculum achievements which the Chinese teachers hope to replicate in their school.

THE 'FLASH MOB' CHOIR/ORCHESTRA

Father Martin has asked for one more ‘Flash Mob’ before the summer holidays. It will be on 15th July at the 9.30 Mass, the day of the Parish Carnival, to start the day off with a bang. Put the date in your diary. We would like as many singers and instrumentalists as possible. Please come along and support the Parish. It may be recorded for a short 5 minute video for use on social media that gives an impression of our parish community. There will be a rehearsal at 9am. Come and join in. Thank you.

Essex County English Competition

On Tuesday 3rd July, the English team (Nikhil, Megan, Emily and Amelia) went to Chelmsford to compete in the finals of the English competition after winning a golden ticket from the last round. During this round, we were given a series of challenging tasks that included ‘Speed Speller’, ‘Don’t Say It’ and ‘Muddled Nouns’. It was an unforgettable day and we had a great time. We tried very hard to win but sadly we came 7th out of the whole of Essex. We greatly enjoyed the experience. Thank you.

Written by Amelia Brooks (6C) Nikhil Sumesh (6C) Emily Barry (6B) and Megan Terry (6A)

Carnival Lunch – Brentwood Cathedral

Do join us on Sunday 15th July from 1.00 – 3.30 p.m. We will be raising funds for our 4 World Youth Day ambassadors. Bring a plate of food and some drink. If you or anyone you know is willing to sing or dance, let Father Martin know. Pray for sunshine! It will be a perfect afternoon for the whole parish family.

Infant School Sports Day

Friday 13th July

Mrs Rainsford allowed the Junior School children who have siblings in the Infant School to join them and their parents for the picnic lunch.

If you are going to have picnic lunch with your children please tell your child. We do not need parents to call us, just please let your child know.

Running Club Stars

This weeks’ runners of the week are Tierna Linehan-Karaiskos (4B) and Nicholas Petrelli (5B). Well done.

Class Photographs

Please order the photos online by 9th July. The club and team photographs will be displayed in the school’s entrance area from Monday 2nd July. The order process is the same as for the class photographs. No late orders will be accepted. Thank you.

Community News

School Clubs

Please note that Friday 13th July will be the last day for clubs, there will be no clubs W/C 16th July. Mrs Chambers swimming lessons will continue on Monday 16th July.

Vacancy

Lunchtime Support

11:30am to 1:30pm term time only. Salary range: LGS Band 1 A person is required to supervise and support children during lunchtime. Please contact Mrs. Laraway, Headteacher, or the office for an application pack and further details. Application forms can be downloaded from the Catholic Education Services website. www.catholiceducation.org.uk

Photograph of the Week

Wimbledon – July 2018

Forgotten Belongings

I have asked the office staff not to call home for forgotten PE, swimming kits and musical instruments. Please ensure your child remembers to bring their correct items each day. The office staff are not able to make 10 to 20 calls each day for that purpose. Please take note of the revised swimming timetable attached, which was published previously.

Class Allocation

Please see below the class allocations for the academic year 2018/2019.

Ms Armstrong, Miss Davis, Mrs Terry and Miss Shipley will teach Year 3 classes. Class allocations for Year 3 will be announced soon. Mr Fraser, an experienced primary teacher is joining us from St. John Fisher School. Mrs Gambardella will retire at the end of this term. Mrs Rauch will join us as SENCO. I am sure the parents will welcome the new staff. We thank Mrs Gambardella for her contribution in supporting the children and parents. We wish Mrs Gambardella all the best in her retirement. I look forward to seeing parents at our Open Evening on Tuesday 10th July from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Parents might use this opportunity to introduce themselves to their child’s new teacher.

ParentMail

We are sending out a lot of ParentMails at the moment so please ensure you are reading the information that is sent. Also, please ensure you are checking your Spam/Junk folder.

Lost Property

There is still an amount of unclaimed lost property, parents are welcome to have a look through lost property before and after school hours.

Summer Swimming Crash Course

Summer Holidays

Thank you. Mrs Chambers

Cleaner Vacancy

St. Helen's Catholic Junior School Academy has a vacancy for a cleaner. The hours are from 3.30pm to 6.00pm term time with a week to be worked at Easter and 2 weeks in the summer holidays for a deep clean. The post is paid on Band 1, an hourly rate of £9.00. Please contact Mrs. Laraway, Headteacher, or the office for an application pack and further details. Application forms can be downloaded from the Catholic Education Services website. www.catholiceducation.org.uk

End of Day Arrangements

If a change of home time arrangement needs to be made, please ensure you telephone the school office by 12:30pm if possible please. Please do not email.

Mrs B.M. Laraway, Headteacher

Science Day 2018

Yet again, St. Helen’s enjoyed a scintillating day of science, in this annual event. The children were treated to a fascinating science show, delivered by Peter Wright of Wonderstruck Science. This year the show was entitled, ‘Science of the Movies’. Peter, a trained scientist who has experience of both teaching and of delivering presentations around the world, demonstrated and explained to the children how special effects related to fire, are used in familiar films.

It was an amazing show which wowed the children with effects such as smoke creeping across the room, balls of fire

leaping to life and explosions filling the space. With every demonstration, Peter explained the science behind it, and enhanced the children’s knowledge and understanding. Highlights were when a model toy car exploded and caught fire and a shed blew up. Children were selected to participate in some of the activities, which as can be seen in the photographs, they very much enjoyed.

Following the show, the children received instructions on building a working model of a hovercraft. The children then worked in mixed age groups of 4 children, to construct their model, and incorporate electrical circuits to drive it. It was a brilliant experience for the children, and there was a lot of

collaboration between them to build the best model they could. The children gained a real sense of teamwork and the older children were useful leaders and advisers in their group. Having built the hovercraft and activated the workings, the children then had opportunities to test their models and work on adaptations to improve its speed. The fastest model from each classroom base was chosen to enter the grand finale race. The whole school gathered in the hall to watch the race in which the hovercrafts were timed to award the final places. Well done to the winning team of Nikhil Sumesh (6), (5), Joseph Tracey (4C) and (3), pictured below.

It is hoped that this experience, involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will motivate the children in their learning and inspire the children to continue with these interesting, challenging and very much needed subjects in their future studies. Indeed, they may lead them to their future careers in a rapidly changing world.

Thank you.

Miss Mitchell, Science Leader

This is what the children said about the day:

“I learnt how to build a hovercraft and how to move it – teamwork was good fun”

“I learnt how to create explosions in a movie – my favourite part was when they exploded the shed”

“I liked the gunpowder demonstration with exploding rice crispies”

“I enjoyed working in my group and our hovercraft won”

“I thought it was clever that the fake glass looked like a real bottle, and it was funny when Olly Ives broke it on Sammy’s head”

“It was frustrating trying to get our hovercraft to work – but it was fun, too”

What did the children say they learnt?

“I learnt that nitrous oxygen makes smoke, and liquid oxygen makes cold smoke sink”

“I learnt that if you mix hydrogen and oxygen together, you get H2O, and if you put fire against it, it makes a shockwave and booms”

“I learnt we had to make the skirt of the hovercraft airtight for it to work”

“I learnt you have to check the batteries are the right way round to power the hovercraft”

“I learnt changing the type of propeller affects the speed”

“I learnt the hovercraft works better on certain surfaces because of friction”