Dear Parents,
I hope you all had an enjoyable half-term. We enjoyed an excellent INSET day on Monday, joining eight other local primary schools for a collective morning, for all staff, on the 'Art of being Brilliant'. Within the busy world of education, it was a very useful opportunity for our staff to take stock, reflect and look at ways to move forward both professionally and personally.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for 'Sharing our Learning' from 2.30-3.20/3.30pm and then parent consultation evening next week. Please ensure you are clear what type of appointment you have signed up for. Wednesday is online and Monday and Thursday are in person.
School field-Astroturf
Monday 23rd October was always our intended (and hopeful) start date. Whilst leaving the news of the astroturf was a nice surprise for you to all return to, the reality was we were kept to a last minute approval of our planning just before half-term. We then had to wait for final approval from a tree officer once all the temporary fencing was put up. The whole project has got an approximate completion period of 6 weeks.
As you look across the field, a reminder of a couple of aspects that were shared with our plans.
The permanent fence that will be installed and surrounding the astroturf will only be 1 metre high as you look across from the blue fencing. This is to ensure we do not lose the vista and feel of the trees. The other three sides will have fencing of three metres.
The space of the astroturf is not the exact fenced out area at the moment-there are a few metres on each side to come off. Some of the building materials are being stored inside. The dimensions of the actual astrotruf will be 40m x 25m.
School events
Year 4 Ancient Greek Day
Year 4 enjoyed a Greek Day in school on the last day of term, taking part in activities from printing to column making. They enjoy a range of activities and dressed up for their day!
Reception Local Walk-Sheen Common
Well done to Reception for showing great perseverance to complete their walk and first school trip in heavy rain on the penultimate day before half-term.
Uniform Reminder-hoodies on non-PE days.
A reminder please that Sheen Mount PE hoodies should only be worn on PE days. We will begin to send letters out to those who come in with them as part of their school uniform.
Harvest Assemblies
Thank you to all the staff who gave their time to rehearse and perform the Harvest assemblies. Especially well done to Reception, who performed with minimal rehearsal time. It was great to have so many present and despite the KS1 concert being very busy, we hope you enjoyed these school community concerts.
Richmond Borough Primary Schools Pupil Parliament - Jamie and Elodie -Year 6.
On Wednesday 11th October, we went to the Richmond Pupil Parliament at York House. We were elected to do this when we presented speeches to our year group and everyone voted for the best one. We were doing this with lots of other schools in the borough. When we got there, we were introduced to all the teachers helping out. We then listened to a first session of people performing their speeches, while we took notes, then had a break in the nearby park. When the break was over, we performed our speeches - along with the rest of the people in our group - and voted for the best boy and girl. Finally it was time for lunch and we were all starving!
After lunch, we found we were going to meet the mayor of Richmond and the top 10 speeches would be performed to her. After lots of anticipation, we sadly didn’t get into the top 10 but we definitely thought the people who did deserved it. We then (finally) got to meet the mayor - Suzette Nicholson - who talked to us about her job. The top 10 speeches then were performed in front of the madam mayor and we had to keep our eyes peeled because later we would vote for the Pupil parliament mayor and deputy mayor. In the end a girl called Mabel from St. Luke’s school and a boy called Sammy from Trafalgar School won the mayor and deputy mayor.
In the end we had lots of fun, met new friends and were very glad to part
Year 6 ambassadors - News Editors
This week is the turn of the News Editors. Our News Editors are: Emma, Angelica, Rose, Elodie and Alyssa. They are working with our Deputy Head (Mrs O’Brien) and Mrs Sroka, who teaches 6S. They would like to share some exciting things that will be happening in our news editor role this year:
Elodie - We are celebrating the 32 inspirational black women - the 'Sheroes' who are being celebrated as part of Black History month. In the next few weeks, we will be interviewing Charlene White who is one of the 'Sheroes' and a Sheen Mount mum! We are really excited about doing this and will share her interview later on.
Emma - Evelyn Doves is a British actor and singer, born in 1902 and praised for her incredible acting and singing. Most well known for being the first woman of African heritage to be on BBC radio in 1925, she wrote many original songs, including 'Over the Rainbow'.
Our other role is presenting at our Year 5/6 Forum assembly. Here are some of the things we've spoken about recently:
Angie - A 19 year old, Coco Gauff has beaten Aryna Sabalenka winning a Grand Slam title. Gauff, seeded sixth, had to overcome difficulties in the match. My intention in sharing this story was to inspire other people to never give up and always follow their dreams.
Rose - The Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has been given to Laurent Ballesta from France for his picturesque photo of a horseshoe crab moving around on the seafloor, looking for food. This year the contest had 49,957 entries from around the world.
Alyssa - This week, I shared a story linked to the 5th of November which, as most of you know, is the story of Guy Fawkes and his gang who attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. I found learning about this event interesting and felt it was important to remember why we light bonfires and watch firework displays and, of course, it is this coming Sunday. Have fun and be safe!
Sports-Tag rugby
Congratulations to our Y5/6 Tag rugby Team who participated in the borough event on Wednesday 18th October. In this mixed team sport (4 boys/ 3 girls) we had a great array of try scorers, with our girls scoring over half our tries. 
The team were unbeaten throughout the tournament, but unfortunately missed out on the semi-finals on tries scored. They won 5 matches during the day and drew 2.
Parent Skill-Set Form
Thank you to those parents who have filled in this form and we have over 15 entries. Our enrichment lead, Mrs Sroka will be in touch with you in the coming weeks if we can find an appropriate curriculum connection at this time. Additionally, some aspects might be useful outside the curriculum.
It could be connected to the curriculum and speaking to the children or an aspect you feel might be beneficial to the wider school.
https://forms.gle/L8P5e7FMPkYJzy9i7
School charity commitments
We are very aware of various events that come up and asking too often for donations. The school will allow children to take part in red nose day and children in need. However, there will not be a formal donation via the school. We will ask you to donate nationally and make your choice how much you donate. Therefore, we have committed to the following events:
Autumn term
-Jeansforgenes-local charity. Money donated for wearing jeans
-Children in need dress up day-parents donate nationally
-Donation at Christmas concerts to a local charity (TBC)
-Optional Christmas gift bag to Richmond Good Neighbours-see below for this year's key information.
Spring term
-Charity event for one charity decided by the school council
-Comic relief/Sport relief-parents donate nationally
Summer term
-Charity event for one charity decided by the school council
Christmas Gift Bags
The charity Richmond Good Neighbours would love your help again to prepare Christmas gift bags for lonely, often vulnerable and elderly residents to make sure they don't feel forgotten about at Christmas! https://www.richmondgoodneighbours.org.uk/
The charity would like to include the following four things in each bag:
1. Letter
a personalised letter from the kids ( including name, something about themselves and obviously wishing a Merry Christmas) - you can make it as personal, short or long, as you like.
2. Something Home-made/crafted
Last year the kids made things like Xmas decorations, coasters etc... basically whatever you can think of and your kids would be happy to make!
3. An edible treat
e.g. mince pies, chocolates, chutney, Christmas tea, etc (shop bought with a use by date after Xmas)
4. A little present
e.g. hand creams, shower gel, quiz books, hot water bottle, colouring pencils/colouring book, candle, tea towel etc (Cosmetics can be sample size).
The rule of thumb is - if you would like to receive it in a gift bag, you can't be too wrong.
- NO alcohol (expressly stated by the charity)
The charity suggested a value of around £10 per bag (but it's ok if it's less or a little more).
Please wrap up your presents and put them inside the gift bags.
We need both female and unisex bags (please label accordingly).
Drop off: Reception from Friday 24th November
Deadline: Friday 1 December
Any questions, please contact Cornelia (Year 4 parent) who will be coordinating the bags for the charity
cornelia@oldmole.co.uk
Have a good weekend
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher
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