Dear Parents,
We come to the end of the Spring term having had a plethora of activities over the past two weeks. Whilst we just dodged the showers (and rumblings of thunder) for KS2 cross-country last Friday, the weather meant our Easter concerts for R & KS1 were moved inside this week.
I hope you have an enjoyable Easter break, and we look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 17th April for the summer term.
A reminder there is one more INSET day this year on Monday 5th June and the term dates for 2023-24 are published on the website here. https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Term+Dates&pid=29
End of term finish time
A reminder we finish early on the last day of term - Friday 31st March.
Reception and KS1 finish at 2pm and KS2 at 2.10pm.
School trips/events
Our Year 6s went to Holly Lodge in Richmond Park to have their 'Junior Citizen' afternoon last Monday.
Olivia - "In one of the activities there was a car and bike accident and you had to find out what happened. There were many clues around and inside the car and by the bike."
Spyker- "My favourite activity was the fire brigade. We learnt what to do when if a fire spreads around our houses. The advice included keeping low whilst you exit the house."
Molly - " I really enjoyed the stranger/danger activity (but we didn't know it was called this). We went into some woodland and a stranger asked us to find his dog. However, we learnt that we needed to stay away from the person."
Y2 to London Eye
Mia - "I really enjoyed when we stepped into the pods as the London Eye was still moving, and it always does!"
Mila - "I enjoyed seeing the building from so high up-my favourite was St Paul's Cathedral."
Ollie - "I enjoyed the train journey there. I really enjoyed being all the way at the top of the London Eye and our pod did the conga when we reached there."
Choir event at the Rose Theatre, Kingston
Many thanks to Mrs Adams and Mr Kennedy for taking the children
Last Wednesday, Sheen Mount choir performed at the Rose Theatre in Kingston as part of the Richmond Music Trust singing festival. They performed four songs as part of a massed choir and an additional two songs on the stage together with East Sheen choir, all accompanied by a professional band. The children behaved impeccably throughout the rehearsal and concert and everyone in the audience was impressed by their energy, focus and wonderful singing.
"My favourite song was Miracles by Coldplay." Lara
"I really enjoyed singing as a big group with other schools." Parisa
"I'd never sung with a live band before and it was great!" Artemis
Arts week
We enjoyed a varied arts week last week. The children enjoyed a dance workshop which they then performed in one of two assemblies. These had a mixture of age groups in from R/KS1/KS2.
The dance was based around the same picture that the class pieces of art were focused on. Throughout the week, the children created various different pieces of art, which were then displayed in the hall. Hopefully you have managed to see the pictures on twitter. Thank you to all their staff for their time and effort over the week.
School Uniform - a few reminders please
When attending before/after school clubs
There is no 'uniform' for attending sports clubs before or after school. However, children need to ensure they then have the correct PE and school uniform for the school day. It would therefore seem advisable for children to wear PE kit to school for a before school club if it is their PE day.
PE kits
If tracksuits are being worn they should be navy or black with limited branding/markings on them.
We are looking at moving the PE shorts from white to black. You will be still able to wear the white ones whilst we phase this in.
A reminder any t-shirts purchased for the London to Paris cycle can we be worn on PE days or at school clubs.
No Sheen Mount hoodies apart from on PE days.
Footwear
There are too many trainers being worn on non PE days. We accept that school shoes can break or get too small mid-term, but can you please email into the office if this does happen, with a timescale for when a new pair will be bought. Class teachers and senior staff can then be aware.
Sports Results
Girls netball
We intimated that big first victory in the last newsletter.... and it did arrive last week-well done to the team! A tight 6-5 win over St Osmund’s last week. Thank you to our Netball coach Nikki Price.
Cross Country
Well done to all those completed either the 500m (LKS2) or 1000m (UKS2) last week. Whilst it is about all children getting out and doing some exercise, the top 3 will get medals and teams in the future such as Borough Sports and X Country will be chosen based on these results.
Girls football
Having won the Richmond event, the girls attended the London youth games. They did remain unbeaten in their games played, but unfortunately we couldn't quite grab the all-important goals at the other end and our 0-0s were not enough to progress through to the next round. An excellent opportunity for the team thought to test themselves against the best in London.
KS2 Cross Country and Parent involvement
It's great to be able to have parents at events such as the Cross Country run but could I please ask you to keep your distance from the children at school events unless you are invited to come closer. This is for a myriad of safeguarding reasons, we can't have children drifting off from their adults who are reasonable for them. We will cone and define the areas in future.
Forest field fun-children sponsorship
Children have been sent home with their sponsorship forms. The smoothie bikes will happen on Thursday 20th or Friday 21st April. The run around the field will be at some time w/c 17th April or the following week.
As you will have hopefully seen from class-list there is also an adult static two bike smoothie challenge on Friday 21st April. We are looking for pairs of adults to sign up and then donate as they feel right to the page. Come along to school with a friend or a partner and have some fun and then please donate! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HtfXfytyBqnf2CcdTItgcnzIsbypiOJW4e81AoKZYyk/edit?usp=sharing
Below is a link to see what the smoothie bikes look like-
https://youtu.be/L1TOirdUlW4
Library
Following all the work by our parent volunteers and having our lunchtime sessions, we are going to alter the Thursday lunchtime sessions to be a free choice for children to enter. As long as there is space in the library, children can go in for 20 minutes of their lunchtime.
Message from PSA. Amazon smile-no longer. Please use Easyfundraising.
As some of you may be aware AmazonSmile have closed their charity portal. We benefited from over £10k of funding last year so we will notice the loss. Can we therefore please encourage you to sign up for easyfundraising instead? It’s easy to do and it ‘s FREE. Easyfundraising donate when you buy from other retailers.
Message from the Chair of Governors
Our spring term Board meeting was a busy one with the budget, Headteacher and School Improvement Partner's reports to consider, as well the governor review of Equality & Diversity, and finally one farewell.
The budget resulted in much discussion for the simple reason that it doesn't add up. Our funding has increased by 1% this year and we have been told by the Borough to allow a 9-12% increase for wages which constitute some 70% of our budget. Unlike corporate budgets, some significant details including salary increases do have a tendency to move over the next month or two and the final budget is only submitted end June. Governors and headteachers alike are up in arms about this and have been lobbying the borough. The funding of primary education is woefully inadequate as the recent teacher strikes have served to highlight. Whilst Sheen Mount is in the fortunate position of having surplus funds to fall back on these won't last for many years. Other schools do not have this luxury. It remains to be seen what will happen, and we are working hard to evaluate the options with our primary motivation being to protect the education of the children and the staff to support this to the best of our ability.
I'd like to say a massive thank you and fond farewell to Helen Edwards. Over the last four years she has been a huge advocate of our pupil premium children and a very active member of the board. She goes having already started as Conservative spokesperson for Kingston & Surbiton, a role I know she is thoroughly enjoying.
Finally, we are currently looking to recruit new governors and if any parents or their family/friends are interested please get in touch. We are particularly keen to talk to people who have either HR experience to ensure we have a balanced set of skills across the Board. Please email governors@sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk
Wishing you and your children a great Easter Break.
Justine
Justine Hebert
Chair of Governors
Have a good weekend and Easter holidays.
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher
