Dear parents,
I hope you are well. We enjoyed presenting the English open morning to you today-we had nearly 50 attendees, which is excellent parental engagement. Thank you to Miss Breckon for her work in organising the morning as well as the four class teachers who opened their classroom up for the morning. The slides are attached to the newsletter from her presentation.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Winter Ball on Friday 7th February.
The next newsletter will be on the last day before the half term break on Thursday 13th February. A reminder, we have an INSET day on Friday 14th February.
Term dates
You may notice the INSET days for the 2026 academic year are in a slightly different place. This is because one of them is on the last day of term-Monday 20th July.
https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Term+Dates&pid=29
Late for registration
We are determined to do our best by all our children and ensure they are on time and not missing unnecessary amounts of school. This is a parent’s responsibility and there are consequences for lateness or poor attendance. We have termly meetings with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) and she will be inviting parents to meetings if attendance is too low or lateness is too common.
We had 14 children late one day this week, which I think we can greatly improve on. To remind you-
The gates open at 8.35am.
The classroom doors open at 8.45am.
Everything closes at 8.55am.
If you enter/try to enter the school gates after 8.55am you will marked late in the register
There is also a group of KS1 parents that pick up with the KS2 pick up times i.e. ten minutes late. This is not fair on those class teachers and please ensure you pick up at 3.20pm for R/KS1 and 3.30pm for KS2.
Persistent absence
For those children with less than 90% attendance (this is what is deemed persistent absence), you will need to send proof of illness if your child is ill.
Photo permission
The new social media photo permission email was sent yesterday; please ensure you fill this in. You can now give permission for photos on the website/newsletter and social media separately.
Messages from the office
Please ensure you update Arbor when you move house
We need two emergency contacts for each child
You need to report an absence by email or voicemail before 9am.
School events
Year 3 Ancient Egypt Day
The year 3s had an excellent immersive day at school yesterday. Here are some children to tell us more-
Leo 3MN- I really enjoyed dressing up in order to be the role of an Egyptian God. We had to do some acting and I had to follow the script. I had to say the line whilst others acted and was the God Anubis.
Aiden 3T- I liked the mummy wrapping on 'Queen peggy'. We had to grind up the frankincense and myrrh and put the ointment in. It was satisfying to complete it.
Bea 3W- I really enjoyed making the perfume. First, we had to make a clay box and make a hole in it. Then we had to grind up coriander and cardamom and then we added to the box and then wax to cover it.
Young Voices at the 02-Year 5
One of the highlights of the day trip schedule took place for Year 5 last week. They travelled to the 02 and enjoyed some rehearsing during the day, before performing with 7,000 other children to their parents in the evening. An amazing experience this year was topped off by us being allocated the corporate boxes as our seats. Many thanks to all the staff who gave up their evening for this experience. Many thanks to the parents for supporting this and the numerous verbal and written thank-yous we have received in the past week-they are always appreciated.
Children’s mental health week- w/c 3rd February
The theme this year is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself and the teachers are busy planning activities for next week. We have had whole staff discussion around the theme. The wellbeing ambassadors have been involved in planning events and speaking in assemblies under the direction of Mrs Teeling. They will also be telling you all about the event in next newsletter. There will be a whole school homework set.
The link below explains the theme and gives families ideas for things they can do at home:
https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/
Ambassadors
It is the turn of our history ambassadors this week under the guidance of Mrs D'Urso and Miss Lister-
History ambassadors
We would like to introduce our new history ambassadors for 2024/25: Henry (6AD), Freddie (6AD), and John (6S). These three students are keen historians who regularly read about and research historical topics and events in their own time.
Freddie (6AD): I’m very interested in Tudor Britain and love visiting places like the Tower of London because they really help you to understand what life was like at the time. I’ve visited lots of castles but the Tower of London is definitely my favourite especially because of the Crown Jewels and the armour and weapons that you can see there.
Henry (6AD): I like learning about what happened in the past particularly when it is to do with the monarchy and also military history. At home, I’ve researched World War I and also found out more about how the Romans invaded and took over Britain (in lots of gruesome detail!).
John (6S): I wanted to be a history ambassador because I love learning about how humans have evolved and changed over time and how the changes that humans make affect our planet. I really enjoy modern history such as World War II and the Cold War.
We are looking forward to promoting the learning of history and sharing our enthusiasm with other children from all year groups during the rest of the year.
Sports
Netball
The netball team finished their league season unbeaten with a 6-4 victory over Kings last Friday. They now go forward to the knock out stages and have the day borough tournament to look forward to. 
Tag rugby
Fourteen children represented the school and played all their league matches in the afternoon last Tuesday. They won one (7-1) and drew two, including a very tense, exciting but high quality match against East Sheen. They now move forward to the knock out stages of the league.
Football 
Y4 Girls football-
They had one of their first experiences of tournament football last week. They successfully won their three group fixtures but then unfortunately lost in the semi final 2-1. Well done girls for an excellent start to your Sheen Mount careers.
Y5/6 boys
They got their league campaign off to a flying start with a comfortable double-digit victory over Darell yesterday.
A reminder of our Instagram account
Our X (twitter) account no longer exists and we look forward to continue to share photos/videos with you from the school week on Instagram @sheenmountprimaryschool
Red Nose Day- Friday 21st March 2025
The school council have chosen this as one of their focus charities for the school year-Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is coming up in the summer. For RND the children have decided on wear your own clothes-something must be red, a comic exchange after school (magazine/comics) and the chance in each class to swap places with the class teacher for a lesson. More details will follow and this will all happen on the official Red Nose Day.
Children's Sponsored Bounce Wednesday 2nd April
The principle way the children will raise money for the large-scale fundraising playground project will be through a sponsored bounce on the date above. More details will follow nearer the time, but we will be asking children to be sponsored for a minute of bouncing!
Bracelet/cake sale- entrepreneurial Sheen Mount! Wednesday 2nd April
I receive many requests for this and we are going to do them all on the same day; which will be the same as the sponsored bounce. Children can sell items to raise money for the playground project. Each group must have an adult with them. We will attempt to use as many sum up machines as possible-so payment on card.
Sharing our learning
A reminder that this is always on the Friday before parent consultation days. For the spring term, it is on Friday 28th February from 2.30-3.20pm. As you now all get to see the books when you come for the parents evening consultation appointment, please ensure you are child led with this discussion and focus just as much on the foundation subjects and art books as well as English and maths.
School fund
Many thanks to those who have already responded to the request for funds. A fantastic 53 donations have already been received and processed-thank you.
Thank you also for the positive feedback around the re-launch-those comments are appreciated.
We have had comments around parents donating more and of course, this is very welcome. We set the amount to try and be accessible to all, but any extra contributions are appreciated.
The link is here on the website- https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=School+Fund&pid=58
A reminder that if every family of every child in the school donated £2.50 (less than a cup of coffee) a week and 75% of our number on roll donate, we would raise £40,000 a year.
We have had a couple of questions around salary sacrifice schemes, Give As You Earn (GAYE) and whether they are applicable. We believe they are, but the liaison is with your company-
https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/give-as-you-earn-scheme-2/
World book day Thursday 6th March
With our focus on reading as a school development priority this year, we will be celebrating this on Thursday 6th March. Dressing up will be back (it clashed with the school platinum day last year) and a host of other activities will be announced.
Community
Christ Church
Christ Church Christingle service - 10am Sun 2nd Feb, fun for all ages - oranges and materials supplied - the Eucharist service is followed by refreshments and a collection for the Childrens Society.
Richmond borough libraries
A reminder of the regular events that the libraries run for young people
https://richmond.gov.uk/services/libraries/young_peoples_library_services/library_events_for_young_people
Have a good weekend.
You can contact me directly on headteacher@sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk or speak to me at the gate at pick up and drop off.
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
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