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.
Primary Maths Challenge
Well done to the children in Y4, 5 and 6 who participated in the national maths challenge this year. They all did very well. There is a possibility of three of our children going forward to an even harder national round in February. We will hear more soon.
Short story success
Ruby in Y5 and her mum went to the live final of the BBC2 500 words competition on the last day of term (Friday May 27).
Ruby was picked out of the 123,436 children aged 13 and under who entered this year’s short story competition to be at the live final, broadcast from the Globe Theatre. All the entries were judged by a panel including honorary judge Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, who was there on the day to present the gold awards.
This is what Ruby wrote about it:
‘Mum and I got up at 4:30am in order to get the first tube running. We were absolutely exhausted by the time we arrived at the Globe Theatre (6am). I had no idea how fantastic the day was going to be.
The show started off with OneRepublic singing Counting Stars and lots of other bands performed such as All Saints, Foxes and the London Gospel Choir. Then lots of famous celebrities read out the winning stories, my favourite was JulieWalters and guess what? I got an autograph from her! We were live on the BBC2 Chris Evans Breakfast show and got to see how stressful it was for the producers and cast backstage.
I’m so happy I got the chance to go to the Globe Theatre. It has definitely inspired me to write another story for the competition next year.’
Swimming medal
Daniel from Hawthorn Class qualified for the regional swimming competition in Nottingham and beat his personal best at 50m Butterfly and got his first Silver Medal at the regional level competitions. He competed with the UK’s best swimmers and in the group of 11 year olds despite being only 10 years old.
Man of the match
Luke in Spruce class plays rugby for the Finchley Rugby Club. He trains and plays regularly with his team. He was recently awarded a medal for ‘ man of the match’ having scored 5 tries in one match. He also won the U8s player of the season 2015/16 trophy.
Local rugby
After a mention in a Holly Park newsletter that a local team was looking for new rubgy players Ty from Y5 tried out for the Finchley team and now trains every weekend and plays regularly for the team.
Sport Relief
Sienna in Spruce class walked/ran three miles for Sport Relief at the Olympic Park on Sunday 20th march 2016. She has managed to raise so far…£260! With still a few more sponsors to collect!
Top swimmer
Daniel from Y5 Hawthorne Class has achieved great results swimming for Barnet Copthall Swimming Club in the winter meets.
He has now been selected in the group of the top 25 swimmers, forming a part of Barnet Copthall (BC) Age group. This group is now preparing for qualifications for competitions at regional as well as national level. Daniel is one of the youngest swimmers in this team at the moment. At the age of 10 he has already qualified and has swum at the regional level competitions in the group of the swimmers 12 years and below. He trains hard every day in the evenings and twice a week at 5am before school.
Here are Daniel’s scores in the latest Winter Meet in October, November and December 2015:
- 50m freestyle – Gold medal
- 100m backstroke – Silver medal
- 200m backstroke – Silver Medal
- 200m breaststroke – Silver Medal
- 200m IM (all four strokes) – Silver Medal
- 50m freestyle – Bronze Medal
- 50m backstroke – Bronze Medal
Cross Country Success
We participated in the Barnet wide inter school cross country competition. The conditions were very muddy and wet – a true cross country experience I believe with several children (not from Holly Park) losing their trainers in the mud!
Over 35 primary schools took part. All of our runners did very well, improving on their times and places since the last run in October. They all represented the school very well. A particular mention to Evie in Year 4 who won her race with an extremely convincing performance, out stripping all of the opposition.
The National Primary Maths Challenge
Following on from the first round of this national competition which was an internal school round, one of our pupils has been selected for the National round following on from his high scoring first round.
Aarnav will sit the bonus round in February and will compete with other children from around the country.
Football Success
Our Y5 and 6 football team for girls went to the Barnet East Girls Tournament this week. There were 15 schools taking part. We played 3 games in the group stage – winning every game without conceding a goal. We played Akiva in the quarter finals and won 3-0, St John’s in the semi finals and won 5-0 and then we played Osidge in the final which was very evenly matched and at full time was 0-0. After 3 normal penalties the score was still even. In sudden death penalties Charlotte our keeper saved 1 and with Zara (player of the tournament) scoring the winning penalty. So our girls are now the East Barnet champions and go on to the borough finals on 10th February.
Holly Park Primary School 