On this page we will celebrate the achievements of our pupils both in and out of school.
If your child has achieved something outside school which you would like to share with us you can email Mrs Pelham on head@hollypark.barnetmail.net. If you are including a photo please ensure that there are no other children on the picture.
Barnet Junior Quiz
Five of our Year 6 children took part in the Barnet Schools Annual Junior Quiz at Queenswell School. The team was selected after we had done an internal general knowledge quiz at school. The quiz consisted of several different rounds from general knowledge to spelling. Our Quiz team represented Holly Park very well indeed and finished joint second out of twenty-three schools. A fantastic result – the children should feel very proud. Well done to the children who again were extremely well behaved.
Litter in the Local Area
Lily in Y6 has started a litter picking group. In recent months she has got quite upset about the litter in the local area. She asked her mum to get some litter pickers & asked if they could go out. They did. Lily has also written to the local council and asked for some more bins & recycling bins in her local park – Bethune Park. She has written numerous emails – no reply yet! Lily then organised to get some more supplies from the council – she now has multiple litter pickers, high viz jackets, bags, gloves & other bits. Last weekend she invited some friends and they went out in the local area – the litter was bad and there are very few bins. Lily wants to get more people joining in so she can get more done. Lily’s actions link very well with Rights Respecting Schools as it demonstrates a pupil doing something to make a difference in their local community. Well done Lily and friends.
Goodge Street Britain’s Got Talent
Congratulations to Corey in Year 3 who made it through to the live semi-final of BGT and appeared in the Chickenshed performance to a live audience of hundreds of people in the theatre and a TV audience of millions during half term. What an amazing experience!
North London Hospice
Two Holly Park pupils walked from East Finchley to Westminster to raise money for The North London Hospice in memory of their grandad. They were joined by family who came from Ireland to complete the walk with them. A great day was had by all and money was raised for an amazing cause.
Year 6 Inter School General Knowledge Quiz 2022
2019 saw the first Barnet Inter Schools Quiz Event for Year 6 children. Schools that entered sent a team of five children. The Quiz went on hold due to COVID. This year in 2022 the quiz resumed again.
The Quiz involved a team of five Year 6 pupils in various rounds:
- GEOGRAPHY
- GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
- MUSIC
- SPELLING
- MATHS
This year 20 Barnet primary schools took part. I am delighted to tell you that Holly Park were the champions and won the quiz! Well done to Eva, Joe, Chengiz, Zubayr, Matthew.
Writing Competition Success
At the end of the last academic year, Mrs Mir and Mr Turner entered their Year 2 children into a Young Writers competition to write riddles. Riddle writing is part of the curriculum for poetry. The competition was called the Little Riddlers Poetry Competition. There were over 2,500 entries nationwide. The aim of the competition is to inspire children to be confident and passionate writers and give them real life purpose for their writing. We were delighted that an overwhelming number of our Y2 (now Y3) children were chosen to have their riddles published in a book called ‘Little Riddlers 2022 – Poetic Wonders’ The book will be published in November.
Congratulations
Back in the Autumn of 2019 Shae was a Beaver who represented his groups at the Southgate District Beaver Sports – he was in fact the only representative from his group – other Groups had a team of 8 – 10 Beavers. He was a very determined Beaver and did his best – he chose to enter every race and was very successful – so much so that when all the points were added up the 24th Southgate Beavers (Shae’s group) tied joint first with another Beaver Colony. The Covid lockdown intervened and it was only recently that he was able to have the presentation of the Southgate District Beaver Sports Trophy. Well done Shae for your determination and achievements.
Y5 Jubilee Choir – Holly Park at Buckingham Palace
We are delighted that 15 of our Year 5 children were chosen to sing in front of the Queen at the official Jubilee celebrations at Buckingham Palace on Sunday 5th June. The choir sang right outside Buckingham Palace to begin the Pageant before the procession started. They sang ‘I am the Earth’ and ‘Greatest Day’ They were projected on to all of the big screens along The Mall. They then had ringside seats in the stands to watch the pageant – they were very close to the Royal Family. Then after Ed Sheeran performed, they took part in singing The National Anthem when the Queen and the Royal Family came on to the balcony. It was an incredible day for them – a once in a lifetime experience that they will never forget.
Charity fundraisers
North London Hospice Last weekend, two of our children – Harry and Isabelle did an 8 mile sponsored walk for North London Hospice in memory of their grandad. The Hospice provides fantastic care and support to many families.
So far they have raised over £650! They completed it in 4 hours and enjoyed all of the park and attractions along the way whilst talking about their ‘Grumpy Grandad’ Thank you to everyone who has donated.
Ace runner
Demmi from Y2 has run her 11th Junior Parkrun which is equal to a half marathon!
Karate kid!
Alex from Y3 started karate classes in June with the Kaishi Karate School. He achieved a gold medal in a competition and was awarded his orange belt on his first grading.
Reading success
Francesco from Y1 completed the Summer Reading Challenge and was invited to receive his certificate and medal by a trustee of Friern Barnet Community Library along with the other children who completed this.
Picture News Impact Award
I am delighted to tell you that we applied for a national Picture News Impact Award and was successfully awarded one. The awards are open to all schools who have made a positive impact in the world in 2021 following learning about a story from the news. During the school lockdown of Spring 2021 when most of the children were learning at home, we continued with our assemblies including Picture News assemblies so that the children were thinking about the world beyond themselves. We also wanted to ensure that there were weekly PHSE whole school activities so that we were continually thinking about personal, health and social activities for the children in what was quite a difficult time for many. As a school we are very keen to develop the whole child – not just the academic. We are also a Rights Respecting School and want our children to have an impact on others and the world around them beyond our own school community. The children were inspired by the Picture News Christmas project about Hearts for Homes, but in December 2020 it was too late for us to undertake the project.
In lockdown 2021 with Valentine’s Day approaching and with our weekly online PHSE activities, it seemed like an excellent time in January/February 2021 to do the Hearts for Homes project at our school. We held an online assembly to talk about the project and about how the elderly in care homes could not see their relatives during lockdown.
We wanted to help share some joy during what was a very difficult year for many. The children could relate to older people in care homes as many of them had not been able to see their grandparents for a very long time. We researched where the care homes were in our local area. The children then had a heart template to write or draw a joyful message or poem for a care home resident. Once completed, we sent the hearts by post to eight different care homes. We hoped to spread some cheer to elderly people in local care homes who may be lonely and couldn’t see their families.
We sent the hearts to them to arrive for Valentine’s Day. The children responded very enthusiastically to this project and we had hundreds of hearts to post. We were really thrilled to receive a reply from one of the local care homes who we had sent some of our hearts to. We were able to share this message of thanks with the children in an assembly. The children really felt like they had made a difference to older people in local care homes. The children learned that even in a small way we can all make a difference to somebody else. They understood that a little act of kindness goes a long way. The project linked to Article 13 of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child. ‘Every child has the right to share their thoughts freely.’ The children shared their thoughts, love and care with the local care home residents. They made an impact on others.
Top violinist
Stella (Y6) was awarded a Gold Award as 1st prise in the Oskar Rieding International Competition for Young Musicians for her violin playing.
Fun runner
Demmi (Y2) ran a fun mile run in the summer holidays. Well done Demmi!
Marathon walker
Isabel (Y2) completed the North London Hospice Virtual Marathon.
Young publisher
Y5 pupil Chayil’s mini saga was published in a young writers’ anthology. Here it is:
National Writing Competition
At the beginning of lockdown Chokhmah from Y6 last year wrote a poem for one of his home learning tasks called “Isolation”. His mum liked the piece and sent it to the Young Writers website. At the end of July they wrote to let the family know that Chokhmah’s poem had been chosen for publication in a book. The book will be published on 18th September 2020 in a book called ‘Write to Unite – Words Of Hope.’ A copy of the book with Chokhmah’s poem in it will be kept in the national archives forever.
Chokhmah’s 11th Birthday Run for Holly Park School
A Y6 pupil, Chokhmah has been doing a 5K run every day for ten days and on the 11th day (his birthday) he ran 10K. Chokhmah did this to raise money for Holly Park playground as a thank you for the time he has had at the school and because he developed his love of competitive running at Holly Park. There were lots of HPS children, parents, staff and governors there to cheer him on. Now it is our turn to say thank you to Chokhmah who has raised over £1,000. Amazing!
Snow White With A Twist Of Holly Park
Five Holly Parkers are treading the boards in a 1960’s musical extravaganza staging of Snow White. Oliver, Amy, Max and Marianna from Y6, and Leila from Y5 are acting, dancing, and singing their way through 14 energetic performances, with solos from Amy and Leila. This is a boisterous and extraordinary adaptation of the traditional fairy tale, with original, foot-tapping show tunes and lyrical ballads. Most of the costumes form a riot of colour, while the baddies – the mobsters – remain almost monotone in black/grey and white. Don’t mess with these guys! But do come and see them in action and find out whether Snow White manages to avoid their evil clutches. Snow White is on at the Chickenshed in Southgate.
Outside school
Last weekend one of our staff members – Mrs Kastrati was raising money for Cancer Research, by doing the “Shine Night Walk” It was a Half Marathon walk that went from Southwark Park over the Thames to Old Billingsgate all in aid of raising money to help beat cancer. It was a challenge as it was at night, from 8:30pm – 1:10am, all participants had lights around their hands and heads to light up the journey.