Newsletters

Dear parents and carers,

I hope you are well. We have enjoyed an excellent start to the term with the children settling into their new routines very well. A warm welcome to our new reception parents and children and all the other new families that have joined us throughout the school. 

Being the first newsletter of the school year, there are a few reminders, below, about aspects such as uniform and being late at drop-off or for pick-up. 

I look forward to the first celebration assembly of the school year tomorrow morning, a reminder here of how these work. 

Celebration Assembly

There are two of these assemblies:

• one for KS1, with reception joining later in the year, and
• one for KS2

Within each of these assemblies, an individual or a group from each class presents an aspect of their learning to the rest of the children. There is normally a huge variety each week with coverage across the curriculum. They usually practise this with an adult beforehand and there is a microphone for them to speak into.

At the end of the assembly, a child from each class is nominated for the celebration book. I read out their name and they come to the front of the hall. I then read out what their teachers have said about them and they receive a sticker. The words from the teacher are then sent home to the parents. 

Meetings

Next Wednesday, at 8pm online, we have the first of our parent meetings, which is the PSA AGM.  Please see more information about this at the end of the newsletter.

Please also have a look at the significant dates document which is attached with this newsletter.

Parenting webinars

Please see attached a range of webinars throughout the year from AfC's Mental Health Support Teams (MHST). There are both morning and afternoon sessions, but you do need to sign up. 

School Places and Open Mornings

You may be aware that there is a significant birth decrease occurring in London and its outer regions. I am therefore delighted that we are currently full in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, with healthy waiting lists in R and Y1. There are around 5 places in each of all the other year groups in KS2, so if you are aware of anyone looking to move to the school locally or from further away, please let them know. 

As ever, because of the cyclical nature of schools, our open mornings for future admissions start again in two weeks. The link is here to sign up if you wish to share it with anyone - https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Open+Mornings+%2F+School+Tours&pid=35

Evacuation 

The children did exceptionally well on Tuesday afternoon when we undertook our first whole school evacuation of the site.  We were able to evacuate the children from the school buildings within three minutes for our termly fire drill practice. It took us another 15 minutes to get the entire school lined up on Sheen Common, walking up both sides of West Temple Sheen. We are extremely pleased with how well the children managed this.

Use of School Equipment

Please can we ask parents not to allow children on any school equipment before and after school. This is particularly prevalent at the moment with Y1 children going over to use the gym equipment with the excitement of being collected on this side of the school. Our insurance does not cover any use without school staff being present and so this equipment must not be used at drop-off or pick-up times. 

Pick up/drop off

We appreciate the vast majority of our parents are prompt and keep to the times. However, this week some have started to arrive after 8.55am, which is the time when the registers are taken.

We also have an issue with some KS1 parents turning up at the KS2 collection time. This is unfair for the KS1 teachers who dismiss their classes at 3.20pm. Therefore, if you have a child in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 and turn up after 3.25pm, your child may have been taken around to the office. 
Similarly, if you turn up after 3.35pm for a KS2 child, they will may been taken to the office. 

Uniform

A reminder to please keep to the uniform requirements. There is a reasonable amount of freedom with the uniform, so could I please ask parents to keep to the rules that are set out. The biggest issues are with incorrect footwear, PE kit and older children forgetting their full uniform on club mornings. 

https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Uniform&pid=32

School shoes - please remember they must be black. So trainers can be worn, but they must be all black, with no logos or white/coloured patterns. If shoes are ever broken or lost, please make sure that you send a note to the teacher, so everyone is aware of the timescales for when a solution will be found. We appreciate these things happen, but a note from the parent clarifies everything for the staff. 

PE kit - shorts/skorts must be all black with no branding on them. 

Older children on club days - at times, there appears to be some deliberate 'forgetting' of the school uniform in order to continue to wear club PE kit throughout the day. In particular, with children in Years 5 and 6, we try to make sure they are secondary school ready and part of this is their organisation of what they should have in school. 

Photos being taken on school premises and put in parent WhatsApp groups

There were a number of occasions last term when parents took photos on trips or at school events, such as school discos, and then shared them in class WhatsApp groups, without permission.

There are children in all classes who have not been given photo permission and therefore are not allowed to have their photo shared. Within data protection, sharing it on WhatsApp is the same as on any other social media websites. To clarify, you do not have permission to share these photos. We have some new guidance for volunteers on school trips and this will be shared with all parents ahead of the trips taking place.

Attendance

Like all schools, we take this very seriously and will shortly share a new policy with you which states how unauthorised leave over 5 days could now end up with a fine.

Apart from medical and school appointments, all other leave will be unauthorised, so please do not be surprised when you see this.

You will have seen the various national issues with attendance and while our attendance is generally strong, it is important that all children are in school. Those who are deemed ‘persistently absent’, meaning less than 90% attendance, are reminded of their attendance and the school works with those families whose attendance needs to be improved.

Complaint from the End of Term-water fight

Unfortunately, we were contacted on the first day of the holidays by a local resident complaining about the rubbish left over by the water fight on Sheen Common. This is obviously not a school event, but we had to take the feedback on board and school staff went to clean the rubbish up. Can I please ask families to be aware of this, as we know this is an annual event.

Extra PE Lessons

We have had a couple of questions concerning this. To clarify, children have regular timetabled PE. However, there are also opportunities where Mr Brown has extra capacity in his timetable, and we share these slots equally between the year groups. This is an excellent opportunity for the children to have extra PE sessions.

Judo

The Judo Club, who rent our hall space for their outside company, held an assembly for the children last week. The assembly included a wonderful surprise ending for me... being thrown onto a crash mat by a Year 6 child!

We are looking to find time in our schedule for them to run a Sheen Mount Judo Club as an after-school club. However, in the meantime, please see further information below regarding their current evening club which starts at 5.30pm.

From the PSA

The PSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) is on Wednesday 17th Sept at 8pm (link to come on the day from the school office).

The PSA exists to strengthen the partnership between parents/carers and the school, enhance the student experience and support the school community through events, volunteering, and fundraising.

It is a vital opportunity for parents/carers to hear about what the PSA has achieved over the past year and hear how your funds raised have supported the school.

It's your chance to get involved, share ideas, ask questions and help shape the future of school events and fundraising. Your voice and support make a real difference.

Community

Please see some links from Richmond Libraries 

https://www.richmond.gov.uk/front_to_back

https://richmond.gov.uk/services/libraries/libraries_whats_on

Have a good weekend.

Should you wish to contact me directly, please do so on headteacher@sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk

Tom Holmes - Headteacher