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Sheen Mount Newsletter

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Thursday 18th January 2024

Dear Parents,

I hope you are well and enjoyed your Christmas break. As you will no doubt be aware, this is a very short half-term with only five school weeks-and only three more until half-term. We are very pleased with the way the children have settled back into their teaching and learning and building on the success of the Autumn term. As you will have seen from the email last week, the astroturf is up and running. Thank you once again for all your support with this; a significant achievement when all the money raised came via the PSA and not using our school central budget.

We have other outside areas to develop over the coming years-immediately the woodland trail and then in the future- the surface on the Orchard and the cage area. As mentioned previously, our main project this year will be to turn the old IT suite (all the Chrome boxes are now either in corridors or spread around the school) into a whole class Well-being room. There is nothing structural to be carried out, so this can be achieved by September 2024. 

School Purpose

You may recall we consulted all stakeholders over delivering a new school purpose-parents, pupils and staff. Thank you for all those that contributed and we have sought to capture the main themes. 

After a shortlisting process and several discussions at Governing board level, the school together with the governors have settled on the below. We anticipate using this in various ways across the website and communication channels. As well of course, as living and breathing this day in day out at school. 

Together we create a community committed to educating and nurturing children, so they may grow towards confident, curious and empowered citizens

Class assemblies

A reminder from the beginning of the school year, these now begin this term. Reception and Key Stage 1 have one per class, KS2 have one per year group with Year 6s being their end of year production.  Please see the attached document. 

Celebration assembly comments

Each week, every class teacher nominates a child from their class to be in the celebration book in our celebration assembly. I read the child's name out and they come and stand at the front and the comment is read out followed by a sticker given by a nominated Year 6 child. We then give a round of applause to all those in the book at the end. They are a joy for me to read out and we thought it would be useful to share these comments with you each week. The office will send out personal emails. The comments could be related to something specific or a general comment. 

Spring singing assemblies-R/KS1

We do have Spring term singing assemblies at the end of this term for Reception and then a joint one for Year 1 and Year 2. Apologies we hadn't set these dates until recently. 

The concerts will last approximately 20 minutes and you may take your children home after-but not siblings from other classes until their usual time. 

Reception-Friday 22nd March 2.30pm

Year 1 + Year 2. Wednesday 27th March 2.30pm.
 

Science at Sheen Mount Open Morning-Thursday 25th January

A reminder of this event as sent via email last week. It is an exciting opportunity to see some science lessons, workshops by our Y6 children and hear from our science lead, Mrs Adams. She is also the schools-based advisor for science in all schools in Richmond and Kingston.

We do have a limit on places, but we hope to be able to accommodate everyone that wants to attend. Please line up outside the small studio hall outside after drop off, ready for a 9am start. 

Please sign up on the form below if you would like to attend, so we can plan accordingly. 

https://forms.gle/gcfeiKKuAm1WowZB7

 

It is also the turn of our Science ambassadors this week in our newsletter update. 

We are the science ambassadors!

 Ali: I love science because you can find out how to solve problems and make new things that can blow people’s minds. I am particularly interested in the study of space, especially supernovas.

Isabella: I enjoy all science but I am especially interested in chemistry. I am interested in acids and alkalis and what happens when they are combined. I like thinking about the big questions in science, especially what would happen if the world were different.

Maria: I am interested in science because, when conducting experiments, you never know what will happen, and there’s always something new to learn. I am particularly interested in the universe and what is beyond our planet.

Oliver: I like science because no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn. I am particularly interested in astrophysics, especially the outer solar system.

Throughout this year, we have been very busy promoting science across the school.

In September, we gave practical science demonstrations in KS1, LKS2 and UKS2 assemblies. The children were wowed by our friction book, hand boiler, inflating balloon and mystery boxes. When Mrs Teeling asked the Year 3 and 4 children afterwards who would like to be a science ambassador, nearly all of them put their hands up!

We have also helped Mrs Adams and Mrs Hay to organise and refill the science bags and delivered them to all the classrooms, so they can be enjoyed by the whole school. Have you taken the science bag home yet?

We are currently working with the English ambassadors to read and judge the shortlisted books in the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize. We will let you know our favourites once we’ve read them all.
Next week, we are looking forward to welcoming you at our ‘Science at Sheen Mount’ open morning!

 

Low numbers in some clubs

There are a number of clubs with low numbers in that we will have to consider whether to run in the future. These are:

Drawing matters on a Tuesday morning

Richmond Dance club on a Wednesday afternoon

Girls football (Y3 + Y4) with Mr Brown on a Thursday afternoon 

Please contact the providers themselves or the sign up via Arbor for Mr Brown's club on a Thursday afternoon. 

 

Year 5 Young Voices

All of Year 5 attended this whole day event at the O2 on Monday. It is a spectacular event and many thanks to all the staff that gave up their time to attend this with the children. It is a very late return back to Sheen on public transport around 11pm and special well done to those who were at clubs at 8am the next morning! 

 

 

Staff panto

Thank you to the staff who performed the panto on the last day of term for the children. After weeks of practice (oh no there wasn't...!) we performed on the last morning of term to the whole school. Particular thanks to Mrs Sparkes, Mrs Chevassut and Miss Fosh for their writing of the panto and organisation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staffing

Our School Business Manager, Louise Dear, has found a new role nearer her home and departed last Friday. We welcome our new business manager to start after February half term-Debbie Canner. She was previously Headteacher at East Sheen Primary School and prior to that worked in finance. 

Survey from AfC

AfC have asked us to share this link and QR code so that they can meet the guidance by Government for requirements of Local Authorities for wraparound care. It is a very short 5 minute form. -so that we can capture parent's likely requirements for wraparound care, to support our planning for September 2024. . 

Please share this link

 

100 club

Congratulations to our winner from this month's draw. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community news

New Richmond Food Bank location in Mortlake available now


Richmond Food Bank provides families with long life food items such as canned goods, flour, washing powder, hygiene and baby products such as nappies.

The food bank operates on a voucher referral system, where referral partners, such as Help Through Hardship (0808 208 2138) and Citizens Advice Richmond (0808 278 7873), issue guests with e-vouchers to use at their local food bank. Each voucher is valid for one food parcel, so guests must receive a new voucher code for each visit. Food parcels can be received once a month.

No time to obtain a voucher, no problem! Come and talk to us and we will help.


Click here for more information.
Click here for flyer.

A reminder of some items from the previous newsletter. 

Message from Mrs Sroka, Enrichment lead

We are organising a Careers Week from 17th to 21st June 2024 and would love your support. We would like parents to talk about their jobs and inspire our children to think about what they may want to do in the future. This may involve talking in assembly or visiting classes for them to ask questions. We will also be holding a careers fair in the school hall for pupils in Years 5 and 6, where they can talk to parents and members of the local community to hear what opportunities there are for them. Pupils will be able to learn about different professions and gain an understanding of what the jobs entail, the range of roles available and the skills that are needed to be successful. 

If you are interested in participating in this event, or have any suggestions about how we can make it a success, please complete our Skills Share Google Form. Many thanks to the parents who have already done so. The form has now been updated to allow you to record your availability so we would be grateful if you could return to the form and add this to your response. 

Skills Share Form

 

Book box for the playground

The school council have made a request for a book box to go in the playground so that they can look at some books at play/lunch times. If anyone is willing to construct something suitable, please contact me.  

Library-donation list

The below has been set up by our parent volunteers in the library. If anyone wishes to buy any for the library, they would be greatly appreciated. 

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/XZM329G5YH9R?ref_=wl_share7

 

Have a good weekend

Tom Holmes - Headteacher

 

Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher

 

Reception

17 Jan 2024
All Around The World
Reception has had a wonderful start to a new term. We flew into our new topic 'All Around The World'. Our first stop was Cairo in Egypt. We have been learning all about Egypt's climate, landmarks and camels. We have written sentences about camels, made camel masks and have learnt to writ...
Read more

Year 1

17 Jan 2024
Flying Machines, Art and Materials
Welcome back to school! We have had a great start to this term. We have started a new topic in history - the history of flight! We have designed a flying machine. This week we will be learning about hot air balloons. In science, we explored a range of materials to see if they were bendy or rigid, an...
Read more

Year 2

18 Jan 2024
Performing poetry!
Year 2 has had a lovely start back to the Spring term. In English we have begun to explore a variety of poems. We performed these in groups, thinking about speaking clearly with expression and also including some actions. We have also been learning about the four 'secret strings' of poetry...
Read more

Year 3

17 Jan 2024
Is your grandma grouchy?
Year 3 have been inspired by George's Marvellous medicine to design their own bottle of medicine to cure grumpy, grouchy grandparents. They have used their new skills in persuasive writing to create a label for their potion. Next week they will write an advert to accompany this bottle. Watch out...
Read more

Year 4

16 Jan 2024
Sound and sea waves
This term in Year 4, we have started our new science topic, all about sound. We have conducted experiments using paper cup telephones and string to investigate how sound travels.  In geography, we have been learning all about Japan! This links brilliantly with other subjects this term. We ar...
Read more

Year 5

18 Jan 2024
Raising the roof with Young Voices at the O2
Monday saw the culmination of many hours of practice and preparation as Y5 travelled to the O2 Arena to rehearse and perform to a packed audience as part of an 8500+ Young Voices choir (one of the largest choirs in the world). They were accompanied by a fabulous array of professional musicians...
Read more

Year 6

17 Jan 2024
Putting a spring in our step
The children in Year 6 have made a great start to the spring term. 
Read more

School Diary

OTTERS class assembly
9:10am – 9:40am
18
January
3F & 5B - Swimming lessons
All Day
From 08 Jan and on Monday each week until 05 Feb except for 15 Jan
22
January
YR4 Juniper Hall Parent presentation
8:30am – 8:45am
22
January
3MN & 5D - Swimming lessons
All Day
From 09 Jan and on Tuesday each week until 06 Feb
23
January
3T & 5W - Swimming lessons
All Day
From 10 Jan and on Wednesday each week until 07 Feb except for 17 Jan
24
January