Dear Parents,
An action filled penultimate week of term, ranging from the Year 2 trip to the Wetlands Centre to children selling chutney at Wholefoods in Richmond. The culmination certainly being the two Year 6 performances of "The Queen and the Seven Decades." Well done to all those involved from all the Year 6 staff to the children; two fun filled evenings were had by all.
A reminder of the early closing on Monday and Tuesday due to the extreme heat weather warning. Please remember to sign the google form in the main email if you wish to collect your child early. Also, a further reminder that the last day of term, on Thursday 21st July, is also a 2pm/2.10pm finish.
We look forward to a range of assemblies next week. We have the Year 6 awards ceremony on Monday with the children, the Year 6 leavers assembly with their parents on Tuesday and finally a whole school assembly on Thursday.
School events this week
Chutney making
The culmination of a project involving going to pick the fruit, making the chutney, thinking about the market audience and then selling it was completed this week.
"I really enjoyed selling the chutney and representing Sheen Mount at Wholefoods in Richmond today“ Abigail 5B
"Offering samples of our chutney to taste, to the people walking by, was the thing I enjoyed the most. It was exciting to see when we were the first school to sell out of all of our jars of chutney“ Ava 5B
Y2 trip to the Wetlands
Year 2 enjoyed a year group trip out to the Wetlands on Wednesday. They particularly enjoyed making the most of the water features in the playground as it was such a hot day.
Y2 scooter training
Our Year 2s have also been enjoying scooter training provided by the Richmond road safety team. They will all be able to scoot to and from school safely, from now on.
Staffing
We say thank you and goodbye to some support staff at the end of the academic year. Some are retiring and others hope to keep in contact with the school in a more part-time capacity.
Mary Newman is retiring after being at the school for, can you believe it, 25 years. Based in reception, she has provided all our children with a wonderful start to their education. They will miss her silly songs and welcoming smile. We wish her a happy retirement.
We say goodbye to three staff from the Year 6 team - Jane Ives, Gill Henehan and Julia Snedden. They leave as the various children they have been working with also leave the school. They will be missed greatly.
Nina Pitulec is off to undertake her masters in Manchester after working at the school for more than 3 years. We know that the experiences she has had at Sheen Mount will really help her.
Parent consultation evenings 2022/23
We are considering options for these for the autumn term and would like some parent feedback on whether you would like them to be online or in person. We welcome your feedback:
https://forms.gle/EzMrmCMzhCdi8T6t9
Parent volunteering and career sharing
We are looking to compile a contact list for those who would like to volunteer at school to help within the school day. Among the areas we need support in are reading, phonics, English as an Additional Language (EAL) and a range of other curriculum needs.
For EAL, we have children who enter the school without English, and it is difficult to allocate them adult resources through our own staff. Therefore, we would like to see if parents would volunteer to assist and take children through a programme - we have all the resources. For those interested in this area, we will hold a meeting on Tuesday 6th September at 2.30pm with Mr Knol and Mrs O'Brien, who will provide further details and guidance.
As part of our enrichment programme we are also looking for those who would like to share with the children their career/area of expertise to sign up. We will provide further details of this through individual assemblies or as part of a careers fair. Would you be interested in taking part?
https://forms.gle/XvBPjdnLjynyCdSb8
School video
The wonderful new school video is now live on the website. Many thanks to Laura Starbuck for producing the film, which was a prize from a school raffle. We look forward to using this in a range of ways in the future.
https://www.sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk/page/?title=Sheen+Mount+School+Film&pid=124
Ofsted meeting
Attached to the email are the slides from the parents' presentation about the Ofsted process and any questions we received at the meeting.
CCTV
When I arrived at the school, I was surprised to see there was no CCTV for security and since I have been here we have had two late night attempted break-ins to the school. Therefore, the below action has been taken.
In order to further bolster the security at Sheen Mount we will be installing CCTV Cameras over the summer. The cameras will only be situated at the entrances to the school site and school premises.
The data privacy of all those in our school environment is paramount to us, so we have been working with our independent Data Protection Officer to ensure this process is undertaken in way which minimises any impact to your data privacy.
Therefore, please do not be alarmed if you catch sight of them at the start of the new academic year in September. Once the cameras are up and running we will be publishing a CCTV Policy on our website which will give further details on how and when they may be used. In the interim if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school business manager via info@sheenmout.richmond.sch.uk
Communication
A reminder, I am more than happy to speak to parents at drop off and pick up, or you can contact me directly at:
headteacher@sheenmount.richmond.sch.uk
Have a good weekend
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher
