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.
Inter School Debate Challenge
Some of our Year 5 and Year 6 children took part in an inter school debate challenge with lots of other Barnet primary schools. The debate took place at Middlesex University. The motion was ‘Should city centres be pedestrianised?’ Holly Park had to argue ‘FOR’ the motion. The children did amazingly well and represented themselves and the school really well. Oscar in Y5 was voted ‘Star Speaker’ – one of only four children in the whole event. It was a wonderful opportunity for the children. Thank you to Mrs Mehtar for preparing the children for this event.
Fabulous Chess Success
Our amazing under 11 team have qualified for the National Primary Schools Final!! They played last Sunday and were totally brilliant – they came second place out of 37 schools, winning silver medals for the first time at the semi-finals chess tournament. They have now qualified for the national final which is absolutely amazing considering this is only their second year of playing. Their coach John has said that it is one his best results ever. Huge congratulations to Ansh, AJ, Franco, Joe, Krish and Leo on this fantastic achievement. Only eight schools make it through to the national final out of an original 600+. The final will take place in the Science Museum in London in late June where these boys from Holly Park will compete with children from very well renowned schools. A huge well done as well to our U9’s team – Aariv, Gerry, Harry, Tanvi and Yakoob — who also played brilliantly in the semi-finals.
Update: A massive congratulations to our Under 11 chess team. They participated in the National Schools championships 2026 and got to the finals which were held at the Science Museum. They gained 10th Place out of over a thousand schools across the country both private and state. That is a massive achievement which I hope they are suitably proud of.
London Mini Marathon
Bronagh in Y6 took part in the London mini-marathon championship races. She was one of four u12 girls that qualified to represent the Borough of Barnet. Despite the really early start, she had lots of fun starting the race at Horse Guards Parade, passing Buckingham Palace, and finishing on The Mall at the traditional marathon finish. The Barnet u12 girls team came 3rd overall!
Primary Maths Challenge
This year we took part in the National Primary Maths Challenge. Several children from Years 4 to 6 took part in the first round. Franco from Year 6 got through to the second round. This is an even harder mathematical test taken by children across the country. Franco was awarded a bronze Certificate of Achievement. A fantastic result – huge congratulations to Franco!
Interviewing an Author at the British Library – Katherine Rundell
Miss Sampson arranged a special trip for some Year 5 and 6 children to visit the British Library. The children attended a talk given by multi-award-winning author Katherine Rundell about wondrous and mysterious maps in fiction and her newly released book in the ‘Impossible Creatures’ series. Ahead of the visit, the children gathered together questions they had for the author on the day. Holly Park was chosen to have two children to represent all other schools and to interview Katherine Rundell. Alex and Viyana did a fabulous job. The interview was live streamed and shown in schools across the country. Our Y5 and Y6 children watched the live stream in the hall. There was an almighty cheer when they saw Alex and Viyana on screen. The children had lunch at the venue and took some time to explore the library further. What a fabulous experience!
Primary Maths Challenge
The Primary Maths Challenge (PMC) is a mathematical competition created by The Mathematical Association for primary school pupils in years 4 to 6, designed to encourage enthusiasm and logical reasoning rather than just formal curriculum knowledge. The challenge isn’t easy and is designed for the most able mathematicians. Questions are designed to be logical and not heavily reliant on formal curriculum knowledge, encouraging students to think creatively. Certificates are given for participation, and gold, silver, and bronze certificates are awarded to top scorers in each school. A second, invite-only round is available for high-scoring students, which has a similar format to the main challenge but is designed to be more challenging. We await to hear who has been selected (If anyone) for entry into the next round. Huge congratulations to Franco who was the highest scoring pupil at Holly Park.
London Youth Games
Demmi and Bronagh ran in the London Youth Games. Bronagh came 33rd and Demmi came 39th. The Barnet girls team came 3rd overall winning a bronze medal.
Pupil Fundraising
May and Rimi (Year 4) did a ‘Chocolate treats’ stall on the streets where they live and raised £55.25 for some more Neurodiversity books for the school. They did very well as they didn’t have much time to advertise and the weather wasn’t 100% on their side! What a fabulous thing to do. They are going to use the money to buy a selection of books to add to our collection.
Barnet Dance Festival
Some of our Y6 children represented the school so well at the annual Barnet Dance festival at The Arts Depot. It was an amazing opportunity to perform in a proper theatre, on a stage in front of an audience of 500 people. Approximately 70 Barnet schools take part across several nights with over 1,000 children participating. Holly Park danced to music from ‘Wicked’ with energy and enjoyment. They have been practicing for several weeks and were very excited to participate. Huge thanks and congratulations to Miss Yiannaki who has been rehearsing them at lunchtimes and always has very high standards for the children to meet. Thank you to Mr Bourne who supported Miss Yiannaki with the rehearsals and performance.
Chess Tournament – Round 2
Our Holly Park chess team took part in the second round of a chess tournament. There were three rounds of chess for each school to compete in. The competition was fierce this time around. Our Holly Park team did very well and all of them enjoyed some wins, draws and losses. They told me that it was a tough competition but that they had enjoyed it very much and that you really have to think to outmanoeuvre your opponent. Well done to all six team members: Ansh, Harry, Artharv, Franco, Krish and Leo. Good luck for round 3 of the competition in March 2025!
London Youth Games
One of our pupils – Bronagh – took part in the London Youth Games. It is a competition where all the 32 London boroughs compete against each other in various sports throughout the year including cross-country. Bronagh’s parents were contacted following the school cross-country to say she had been selected as part of the U11 girls squad (year 5 and 6). It was at Parliament Hill / Hampstead Heath and Bronagh loved every minute! She started right at the back but managed to overtake loads of children running up the steep hill on the second lap and ended up 58th out of 199 so she was very pleased.
Meeting The Chief Scout
Christos attends Squirrels, which is designed for 4/6 years olds which is part of the Scouts. He was asked to participate in a special occasion and join a select few with honouring the new UK Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, whose predecessor was Bear Grylls and is the first man of colour to reach the North Pole. Christos was fortunate to meet Dwayne and be featured on the children’s BBC Newsround episode on Friday the 6th September including both major news channels ITV and the BBC on the lunch time episode and also at 6pm.
A Journalist In our Midst!
One of our Holly Park pupils (Daisy in Year 5) had her work featured in an August edition of First News. First News is a national newspaper for children. Daisy was sent to watch the show ‘Terrible Tudors’ and was asked to write a review of the show. Daisy was delighted to see her work published. Having your writing published is always a pleasure – no matter in what form it is published. It gives the writer more purpose for their writing. Over this year at school we will be looking to give all of our children more opportunities to publish their work – whether in a class book, writing a letter to me, something for younger children to read etc. Well done Daisy on having your work professionally published.
Fianna
Fianna recently performed at the Shaw Theatre in Kings Cross. Fianna had some solo lines. She also did singing, acting and dancing. She performed in items from: Pirates of the Caribbean, Grease the Musical and The Adam’s Family. What an amazing experience!