Newsletters

Dear Parents,

I hope you are well. Three weeks already into the half-term and lots of events going on. We had our first residential trip of the year, Year 3 had their Ancient Egyptian day, reception class assemblies began and Year 4 enjoyed their first whole class clarinet lesson.

Reception clear up

Thank you to all the parents, staff and children who attended this event last Sunday. For four hours there was painting, cleaning, carpentry and tidying going on within this space that we are very privileged to have. 

Year 4 residential trip

The Year 4s had a great time at Juniper Hall last week. The rain just about held off and the children enjoyed a range of activities, as well as free time on the field. Thank you to the eight members of staff who ensured the children had a happy, safe and enjoyable three days. There are lots of photos on Twitter and in the Year 4 area on the webpage. 

Children's comments

Aidan 4H

I really enjoyed making fire with the flint and fire strikers. It was really fun because you can’t immediately do it straight away, but then it works. Eventually, we set light to a piece of cotton on the metal trays and added other items in to make a small fire.

Mina 4S

I really enjoyed doing orienteering. We need to find letters around different clues. On the red part there was a letter and we were trying to find the stamps. I enjoyed it because we were in a group of 5 people and it is more fun doing it with other people than by yourself. 

Emilia 4BZ

I really enjoyed the den building. First we had to go on a big hike up a hill. We had to find a tree in a Y shape and find support sticks to make our den. Once we created our den, we went around looking at other people’s dens. The instructor would then tip water on it to see if it was waterproof - we could choose whether we were inside our dens during this moment!

Term dates 2025-2026

Please see the link for the published term dates for 2025-2026. 

https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Term+Dates&pid=29

Please note there is an unusual INSET day from our usual routine on the last day of term on Monday 20th July for 2025-2026. AfC consulted schools over these term dates and this day was set to avoid a shortened week for the children. The staff won't actually be at school on this final INSET day as it would be rather unproductive. Instead, we can swap an INSET day with 3 after-school twilight sessions during the school year. 

Parent governor opportunity

There is an opportunity for a new parent governor to be elected. As you will see from the information attached, if you wish to find out more about the position either from the chair of governors or myself, please contact us. There is then a voting process to go through from the parent body, if there are more nominations than positions available.

PSA
There are several members of the committee who are finishing their two-year periods at the end of this academic year-please look out for the email tomorrow for further information.

Whilst everyone who has a child at the school is a member of the PSA, the committee is needed to organise and steer events. With school finances becoming tighter, the PSA is a vital component for the school in terms of fundraising. The school has achieved some significant projects in recent years including the swimming pool and the astroturf. I have aspirations to maximise more of our outdoor space over the next years. 

Just as significant is the community arm of the school and the PSA provides this. 

Two additional notes-

It works well if roles are covered in pairs-either with someone you already know or from meeting a new person.

Parents from every year group can be on the committee. It is useful to have parents from all the phases.

School fund-parent donations 

This was mentioned at PSA meetings and at the parent forum. We are re-launching the fund, working with some governors, and will send information before half-term. 

Enrichment at Sheen Mount

Please see the attachment below from our enrichment lead, Mrs Sroka, on the enrichment work carried out across the school. 

Ambassadors

It is the turn of our Geography ambassadors this week:

In our roles as Sheen Mount’s geography ambassadors, we have been spreading the message to all children that taking care of our school environment is crucial. We need to make sure we are doing our bit towards saving the planet! We have set up recycling collection stations in every classroom in an attempt to stop anyone from throwing away used glue sticks and pens. Did you know that 68,000000KG of waste is generated by primary schools in England and we want to do what we can to help lower this number as much as possible. In addition to this, we regularly collect rubbish from the school playground and field, taking it in turns to litter pick. 

We learnt a lot about the environment when we visited the Eco School Conference in February. We really enjoyed listening to presentations from experts in the industry such as Angela Munden from Greenpeace and a group of people from 'volunteers for Future'.

On the last term of school we are really excited to share our Flag Quiz with all the different classes and hope to find out which Sheen Mount class knows the most about different flags from around the world!

Thank you for reading, 

Frances, Raphael, Ruban, Oliver and Kiami

Sports results

Girls football 

The girls' football team's season came to an end after an extra-time loss in the knock out stages of the league. Well done girls on an excellent season, Mr Brown has been really impressed by your togetherness and determination throughout the season. 

Battle of the Boroughs tournament

We sent both a girls' and a boys' team to this Y5 event two weeks ago. Both teams had a great morning and topped their groups. However, the dreaded knock-out stages accounted for both teams again. It's a learning curve! Especially well done to the girls who had lots of Y4s in their team.

No dogs-at all times-picking up from JAG and clubs

Please can I ask that dogs are not on site at any time. During the school pick up/drop off, it is generally fine. However, there are other moments when they are still coming onto site, particularly at the times notified above. Remember, we are a no dog site.

National walk to school week

Whilst we encourage everyone to walk all or some of the journey to school, there will be a particular focus on the week commencing 20th May. 

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school/primary-schools/walk-to-school-week/

Raising money for chickens for the school

Poppy in Year 5 has asked to raise money through a sponsored cycle for some chickens at school. We hope we have identified a place for them within the grounds.  

https://www.justgiving.com/page/projectcluck

Community news

Family triathlon

One of our teaching assistants - Susie Normann- is helping to run this event below.

Christ Church event

Please see details below of an event at Christ church

Have a good weekend

Best wishes 

Tom Holmes - Headteacher

Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher