School Info

Times of the School Day
Helvetia opens at 8.15am for our girls. All girls must be present by 8.40am please.
Pre-Prep, Form I and Form II finish at 3.00pm. Years 3-6 finish at 3.15pm. The school issues parking permits for short stay parking in Elizabeth Lane Car park for ten minutes only. Please speak to Mrs Woodward if you require a permit. They are to be used before and after school in the public car park for ten minutes.

Behaviour
The girls are very well-behaved and as such, curriculum time is more productive. Older pupils are encouraged to look after the smaller children, especially before school in the mornings and monitors are appointed in Year 6. House captains are chosen as leaders and role models for younger girls during community and house activities.
A system of commendations reinforces everyday achievements for good pieces of work, effort and good manners. ‘Stars of the Week’ cards are sent home each week for various achievements. These marks are gathered together as House Points and the school Teddy Bear wears the appropriate coloured ribbon of the winning House. A House Cup is awarded at the end of the school year.

Special Headteacher Commendations are also awarded to pupils for kindness and consideration shown to others.
Good friend awards are also nominated by the girls in assemblies.

Assemblies
All pupils attend Christian assemblies in the hall weekly and each class takes it in turn to present a topic and a prayer. This gives the girls a sense of achievement, builds confidence and in time with experience, develops leadership and presentation skills.

Church Services
Christmas and Thanksgiving Services are held at All Saint’s Church, Parade Gardens at the end of the Autumn and Summer Terms respectively, on a Saturday morning and all children are obliged to attend. It is hoped that as many parents as possible will also be present as every child has a special role to play and they are very special to us at Helvetia.

We also hold a School Assembly at the Church in the Spring term to which all parents are invited and sometimes members of the clergy and special guests come in to school to talk to us.

Reports
A full school report is sent home in July and a periodic review/parent teacher meeting takes place in February. There are opportunities for parents to meet their child’s form teacher (Parents Evening) and discuss their progress during the year.

Open Evening is held yearly in the Spring Term giving the parents an opportunity to view their child’s work and another opportunity to talk to their teacher.

Morning Duty
There is always a teacher on duty at the gate from 8.15 – 8.40 a.m. to welcome the children and the parents. Appointments may be made with members of staff to discuss a child’s progress at a mutually convenient time. These can be made by telephone, a note in their child’s diary or by e-mail to the school’s address.

Sports
All girls learn gymnastics and dance in the school hall whilst games lessons take place in the playground and in the local park for the older pupils. We take advantage of the professional coaching of badminton at the New Gilson Hall, cricket, netball and rugby offered by the Sports Development Officers.

In Years 3-6, the girls are taught netball, tag rugby, football, athletics and rounders and are introduced to hockey skills. Netball club is held once a week and our team regularly participates in the Primary Schools Netball league and tournaments. Children of high ability are nominated for trials for the Jersey Squads and may be lucky enough to represent their Island. We also take part in Cross Country, Athletics and other sporting Island events.

All girls get two PE sessions a week. If it is PE that day, then the girls wear their PE kit to school.

Our Swimarathon team raises money for charity and Sports Day is held in the Summer term. Everyone is welcome to attend and watch their child participate. Trophies are awarded to the top performer of each year group while other trophies are presented to particular pupils who have excelled in other aspects of the curriculum.

Swimming lessons
Pre-Prep, Form I and Form II have swimming lessons at Aquasplash. The girls travel by coach to and from the venue accompanied by their class teacher and teaching assistants. The girls have really enjoyed these lessons as the class sizes are small and they are taught by three fully trained members of their excellent staff.

The Performing Arts
The school has a choir comprising of all of the girls in years 3 – 6 and they have a singing lesson every week with our music teacher in addition to a music appreciation/theory lesson every week. The girls also learn how to play the recorder. Likewise all the younger girls have music and singing lessons weekly and take to the stage during December when a Christmas Concert is performed for parents to enjoy and in the summer in our annual concert. The girls can also choose to learn the guitar, musical theatre singing or piano lessons with a visiting music teacher.

Every year Helvetia supports the Jersey Eisteddfod by entering various classes in Music and Drama in the Autumn term and also submitting suitable pieces of 2D and 3D artwork, needlework and handwriting to the Arts & Crafts Exhibition in the Spring Term. We also hold our own exhibitions.

All girls take part in a musical show at in the Summer Term and a Public Speaking competition and Poetry jam for Years 3-6 are held in memory of Phyllis Haines and Annie Haines during the year.

Playtimes
The girls have a supervised break of 15 minutes in the morning. Lunch is also supervised in classrooms (all girls bring a packed lunch) and good eating habits are encouraged. The girls use both the back and front playgrounds. In the summer all pupils must wear the school protective sun hat.

Lunch boxes
The school has a healthy eating policy and we ask the children to have fruit or vegetables in their lunch boxes and/or for their snack. Please do not send birthday cakes into school because of allergies.

After school Club
This facility is run every day from 3.00pm – 5.15pm for all Helvetia pupils. The staff offer a friendly environment where the children can relax and enjoy themselves with a to include homework and reading (if parents wish) and a time for refreshments. Children need to be provided with a snack and a drink from home. It is possible to attend on any day without prior notice is this facility is required on occasions.

Holiday Club
Open for Helvetia girls and their siblings, Mrs Lowe (after school club and drama club) and Ryan are the experienced and enthusiastic leaders of this club.
Please enquire at helvetiaholidayclub@gmail.com for your place.

Art Club
This takes place after school on Tuesdays for Years 3 and 4 and Wednesdays for Years 5 and 6. Mrs Richardson runs this club and she needs to be contacted directly through the school office.

Drama Club
Drama club for all years is run on Fridays by Mrs Lowe after school in the school hall.

Netball/Sports Club
This takes place for Years 5 & 6 on Tuesdays after school during the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms.

Sea Cadets
This takes place after school on Thursdays at the Sea Cadets building. Your daughter needs to be 9 years old to join this. Please contact the school office for details.

The P.A.
We have a flourishing hardworking group of elected officers and form representatives who arrange social events, cake and uniform sales and Christmas parties and disco. All parents are very welcome to join and any proceeds from events are used to help the school.

Our main aim at Helvetia is that your child should be happy to come to school every day. We look forward to establishing a good relationship with you and your family to ensure your daughter has a friendly and supportive environment in which she can develop to her very best during her most important primary years.