Welcome Back
Hello everyone and welcome to the first newsletter of the 2021 2022 academic year. I hope you all had lovely summer breaks and managed to catch up with friends and family. It has been so lovely seeing all the children returning to school and a huge welcome to our new Reception classes who have been in this week and start full time on Monday 13th September. Welcome, too, to all our new members of staff. We are looking forward to working with all of them this year.
As you all know, we have started this academic year with fewer Covid restrictions than before. However, I am acutely aware of our responsibility to keep all our children and staff safe and healthy and so I would like to refer you back to the whole school email that I sent you at the beginning of this week. In it, I reminded you of a some things that I would like you to do:
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only one adult to drop off and pick up the children
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to continue to wear a mask whilst in school, if at all possible
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to make sure that your child has everything they need so that you don’t have to come into school to deliver things once you have left the site
In addition, if your child has a medical, or other, appointment during the school day, please collect or drop them back at a break time (10.30 - 11.00) or a lunchtime (EYFS/KS1: 12.00 - 13.10, KS2: 12.30 - 13.40) transition point.
Meet our New Headteacher
I am very pleased to let you know that our new headteacher, Tom Holmes, would like to introduce himself to you all. As there are so many of you, he will be doing this via Google Meet on Thursday 30th September at 9.30. The link for this is here:
https://meet.google.com/dhx-tozr-coa
I will make sure I re-issue this link closer to the time. Tom is very much looking forward to meeting you all.
Fundraising
As we start our term, our first charity fundraiser is on the horizon. Next Friday, 17th September, we are supporting the charity 'Jeans for Genes' which raises money for research and treatment of genetic diseases like muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anaemia, amongst others. This is one of the big charities that we support each year and the charity was actually started by a Sheen Mount mum, many years ago. So, on Friday, we are asking all children, and staff, to swap their school trousers or skirts for a pair of jeans (or a different pair of trousers for those who do not have, or who cannot wear, jeans). Other than jeans, we will all wear our Sheen Mount t-shirts, sweatshirts, cardigans, jumpers and school shoes. Thank you for helping to support this wonderful cause.
https://www.justgiving.com/Sheen-Mount-Primary-School6
Talking of fundraising, a huge thank you and well done to last year’s Rabbits, now Moles. Between them, over the summer holidays, they have cycled the distance from London to Paris. What an incredible effort! They have raised over £700 for the school. I am very proud of all of them - well done Moles! Here are a few of them in action.
Finally, in terms of fundraising, this is Milo who is in 4H. For his 9th birthday, he is taking on the Seven Sisters challenge this October in aid of Afghan Aid. Milo really wanted to do something to help this important cause and has already raised a great amount of money. I know some of his friends would like to support him, and he is very near his target, so here is the link to his fundraising page.
https://www.afghanaid.org.uk/fundraisers/milos-miles-for-afghanistan
A message from the PSA (Parent Staff Association):
We hope everyone has had a great first week at Sheen Mount. We know that there is lots going on, but we wanted to say a big hello from the PSA team. We are a new team and we are excited to be representing all of you and continuing to build and create the amazing community that is Sheen Mount.
This school year we are looking forward to hosting some of the much-loved regular events from previous years (that haven’t been able to take place over the last 18 months) like the Autumn Ball and Christmas Fair. We also hope to do some new things too, so please watch this space.
We would encourage everyone to get involved, be it by sharing your time, your energy or financial donations, because ultimately the community works when we all rally together and make it happen. Plus it’s a lot of fun too!
We will be in touch shortly to introduce the new PSA team to you (so you can recognise us and say hello) as well as providing you with clear communication channels so that you have the information that you need, when and where you need it.
If you have any questions or want to get involved, please contact us via email (smpsachair@gmail.com), through the brilliant class reps (thank you for volunteering!) or checkout the new Sheen Mount PSA Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sheenmountpsa). The following infographic might give you some more ideas of what you can do:
PSA - 4 easy ways to give to our school
Some Sad News
It is with great regret that I have to tell you that the Revd. Chris Griffiths, Team Vicar of Christ Church, East Sheen, died on Thursday 26th August. Revd. Chris had not been in the parish for very long but was already very well known and loved. I had met him a couple of times and was looking forward to working with him. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time. He will be missed by all.
School Business Manager Recruitment
As you may remember, our School Business Manager (SBM) Marianne Paemen left Sheen Mount at the end of the July. We are all missing her already. I am pleased to say though that the recruitment process for her successor is well under way and has now been advertised on Eteach. If you know anyone who is looking for this type of role, please point them towards this advert. All details are on the following link:
https://www.eteach.com/job/school-business-manager-1173965
The deadline for applications is Thursday 23rd September 2021 at 4pm.
Finally, I hope you have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
