At St Helen’s, we take having fun very seriously to create balance for our students. Challenge days, dressing up days or simply a hot chocolate around the campfire, we give students the chance to take part in activities which are different from their academic studies. This is just as much a part of life at St Helen’s as what happens in the classroom.
During form time, tutors arrange group activities that combine fun with fostering friendships – whether it be a Just Dance competition or a light-hearted, lightning-fast quiz.
We take any excuse to celebrate and the whole school picnic is a highlight of the summer calendar.
We organise obstacle courses and bouncy castles at Church Farm for our Upper Sixth leavers’ celebrations and host cake decorating competitions to raise money for our annual school charity.
Our four Houses – Benedict, Duffield, Hayward and Paterson – provide students with a sense of community and connectedness as students make friends beyond their form and year group while going head-to-head for House points in a range of fun activities and competitions throughout the year. From House Bake Off to decorating Christmas trees in House colours, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
St Kate’s Day
Fuelled by plentiful KitKats, St Kate’s Day is the annual celebration of our school’s patrons – a particularly special event in our calendar. The traditions of the day have grown over many years and the whole school community is involved, including alumnae and former members of staff. It is a testament to the strength of the St Helen and St Katharine spirit that so many HelKats continue to mark the day in their diaries even after they have left school.
Once quite a solemn tradition with a long chapel service and formal dinner-dance, nowadays festivities involve fun and camaraderie. As well as a whole-school Eucharist in the morning, during which our (slightly bonkers) school hymn is sung with gusto, we hold a charity fair to raise money for our chosen school charity. We add to this fundraising total with the ‘2p race’ – a unique St Helen’s tradition which involves each form group laying out as much small change as they can collect into patterns along lines on the netball courts.
In the afternoon, the Sixth Form perform a play written for that day by them. Needless to say, it skirts the edge of good taste and involves staff doing silly things for the mirth of others.
The key to St Kate’s Day is celebration – of our school, of our friendships, of our creativity, and in coming together to raise money for charity.
Beyond Week
In May 2023, we introduced Beyond Week – an initiative designed to provide a range of fun and useful experiences encouraging students to challenge themselves beyond the usual curriculum. A tailored programme for each year group included a bushcraft residential, a field trip to Lulworth, science-based visits to a theme park, well-being activities in nature, risk-themed workshops, first aid training, a one-day film school and more.
The hokey-cokey
Another of our famed traditions takes place after the final assembly of the academic year. The entire school assembles in the Quad and, forming an enormous circle around the Upper Sixth leavers, performs a gigantic hokey-cokey. For our close-knit community, we could not imagine a better way of marking this rite of passage with such exuberance, togetherness and joy.
