Dear Parents,
I hope you are well. We have greatly enjoyed the first week back at school; welcoming our reception children, seeing the new classes in Year 3 and Year 5, starting our assemblies and being very pleased that the children have settled into the new school year seamlessly. A warm welcome to any new staff, children and families at the school; we look forward to working alongside you throughout the time your children are at the school.
Parent engagement events
All the dates were sent out at the end of last term and all the Google Meet links will be sent via Arbor.
The 'Headteacher Vision' will involve a summary and achievements from last year and aspects we are now focusing on this year. There will also be plenty of opportunities to ask questions at the end.
It and the secondary school presentation slides will be sent out afterwards along with a recording of the meeting - however, we will turn the recording off before the Q & A at the end.
PSA Annual meeting - online
Wednesday 18th September 8pm (more details below)
Secondary school admissions presentation - online
Wednesday 25th September 8pm
'Headteacher vision' presentation - online
Wednesday 2nd October 8pm
House points
We have launched our new houses - with children in the same colour as last year and continuing to be in the same as their siblings.
Blue - Willow
Green - Oak
Red - Maple
Yellow - Palm
The three biggest focuses are:
- Raising the profile of the point system in the school and having consistency, allowing all staff to give out house points but only one at a time. Therefore, allowing children to feel further motivated to earn them.
- Allowing children to know their aggregate scores across the academic year and working towards awards - 25 bronze award, 50 silver award and 100 gold award (they can continue to collect them after this point).
- Providing more collegiality within school
Any member of staff can now give a house point - they can be given for any aspects in the classroom or areas such as kindness, manners and helpfulness. One area where the children won't see them, is in their books - otherwise we will see success/failure based on whether they have a house point. However, staff may give them for effort or application during the lesson at any point.
In essence, children will now have an overall way of knowing their total throughout the academic year. Each week in KS2 assemblies, the weekly winner is announced and again we will keep those aggregate totals. In KS1, the children will be told of those totals once a term.
Fundraising initiative for Cancer research by four parents in honour of Katharine West-Vile
Please see below a challenge four parents are taking part in this weekend; we wish them all the best with the challenge.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/aoife-kate-katie-verity
Sheen Mount app
Please see attached a reminder of the Sheen Mount app and the benefits to the school. You can now order the new PE t-shirts via the app - although we have been told that 'Oak' (Green) are in short supply until October.
Scooters and Bikes
We are a bit short of space at the moment with Christchurch Road entrance being closed. Please try and take them home and please do not put them in the staff bike storage area which is around by the swimming pool.
There are over ten staff who enthusiastically cycle to school and they need a covered area for their bike after their commute.
Key behaviour focuses for the children
Please see attached. We introduced the children to these key points last term as a summary and to simplify our expectations. If poor choices have been made, they frequently fall into these categories. You may wish to use the same language outside of school.
Uniform and PE kits
Please see below some reminders for uniform and PE kits
- School shoes must be all black - they can be trainers, but must be all black.
- Socks on uniform days are either plain white, grey or black with no branding on them
- Hair tied back for all children who have it longer than shoulder-length
- PE kit - black shorts, PE t-shirts (previous or new ones for this year only), hoodies only being worn on PE days. Tracksuit bottoms to be green, navy or black without branded items on them
If there are sports clubs before or after school, school uniform should not be worn at the club. They will need to bring school uniform in, to change into. Equally, if sports kit is worn, school uniform still needs to be brought in!
Ground works - cage and tape
You may have noticed that the 'cage' is currently blocked off and there is some tape near the reception areas. This is all due to a large branch falling down from the magnificent cedar tree in the corner just before term started. We are awaiting the all clear from an arboriculturist before allowing the children to play there.
Curriculum year group bulletins for the Autumn term
These will be sent out over the next few days to each year group and then put on the website. The bulletins for the spring and summer term are sent out at the end of the previous term.
Toilets update
Good progress is being made with the toilets. As you can see, the clear out has happened. Some repairs are now being made to the walls, before all the new units and plumbing are installed.
A major part of the project is also the ventilation and ensuring that is effective in the future. By only having cubicles in the boys toilets we hope this will improve the situation as well as a new ventilation system.
I was walking with a year group around this area this week and they did report to me that the 'smell had gone', which is a relief!
We are hoping for them to be finished before half term.
Olympics poster values 'what can we learn'
Please see attached a poster we shared with the staff on INSET day and the children in our first assemblies of the term.
School events
Year 5/6 Hampton School football tournament
From Mr Brown:
After a keep ball warm up, a few tactical ideas were shared and a small attack v defence game took place. The teams then headed their separate ways.
Year 5 were in a larger group with shorter game times and the Year 6s were in a smaller group with slightly longer game times. The Year 5s had some wins and losses throughout the day, finishing mid-way in their group.
Both teams had wins and losses and many had smiles on their faces throughout the day. The Year 6s played some brilliant football in every game. They were caught off guard in game 1, after taking the lead, but were consistent for the next 2 games, showing great movement and interchanging of positions, fluidity and some excellent finishes.
Overall, we were all happy and managed to get runners-up medals. Hopefully the start of a successful year for sports!
Year 4 have their curriculum lacrosse sessions with an outside coach starting this week and Year 5 will have cricket lessons with an outside coach from next week.
Richmond Young Writers Competition
Young writers https://artsrichmond.org.uk/arts-richmond-events
Arts Richmond Young Writers' Festival is open to all young people who either live or attend school/clubs in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is a chance to demonstrate writing skills of any form: stories,descriptive writing, poems, playlets, lyrics for songs - whatever the imagination can devise.
Entries are judged in four age groups with prizes for all winning entries.
PSA
Please see an attachment of the various events coming up over the course of the year.
The most significant open PSA meeting is taking place next Wednesday. However, due to my own child care commitments, this meeting is now going to have be online at 8pm. We look forward to seeing you all then.
The link for this meeting and the other upcoming meetings will be sent via Arbor.
There is another cycle ride in the planning! Details will come later, but Lands End to Sheen Mount from Friday 27th June is in the planning - there is hopefully going to be a two or three day option. At this stage the aim is that the money raised will enhance both playground spaces with the aim of raising £100,000. More details will be provided before the end of this term.
Have a good weekend
Best wishes
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher
