Newsletters

Dear Parents,

With next week being the last one before half-term, time has certainly flown this term. I very much look forward to the Harvest Assemblies next week. We have also enjoyed National Poetry Day last week, whilst Reception and Year 6 enjoyed their buddy reading experience earlier in the week.  

Ten parents attended the first mental health meeting this week. These events are held every half-term, and you can attend them as and when you wish - reminders will always be put in the newsletters. 

You may have seen the national references to World Mental Health Day this week. Whilst this is very important, we are focusing on celebrating the Children's Mental Health Day, which is in February. 

We look forward to seeing Reception and Year 1 parents at the Parents' Drink Reception which is tomorrow from 7.30pm. A reminder that this is for adults only.

A reminder, also, that Monday 31st October is an INSET day. We look forward to welcoming children back on Tuesday 1st November. 

Events for the children this week

We have had three workshops in the last two weeks. Year 3 had a Stone Age Day, Year 4 an Ancient Greece Day and Year 5 an Anglo-Saxon Day. It is great to be able to bring the curriculum alive and the children thoroughly enjoy these immersive days. 

Year 6 visited Kew Gardens, as individual classes, as part of their science learning and Year 3 had a Forest School programme on the field this morning.

You will see pictures of these events on our Twitter feed as well as teaching and learning from the classroom. 

Black History Month

During October, the children will be exposed to influential and inspirational figures in Black History through assemblies, presentations and class discussions. However, at Sheen Mount we do not only feature this important aspect of history in one month. We include diversity throughout our curriculum and are constantly evaluating the people we study and looking for opportunities to maximise diversity. 

Curriculum Bulletins

The curriculum bulletins for each year group are available on the website. You will find each one under the 'Year group' banner and then a link on the bottom. 

Links for Headteacher presentation Tuesday 18th October- 7pm. Online. 

The link for the presentation is below for the meeting on Tuesday. I will be outlining the vision and priorities for the immediate year ahead and future years. There will be the opportunity to ask questions at the end. 

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/cmm-ricr-jyr

Sharing our Learning pre parents consultation evenings

On Friday 4th November there is the opportunity to come into school and look at your children's books with them. This will be from 9.00 -10.30am. There is no need to sign up for this event.

Books will be available for parent consultation meetings the following week, but we are offering some appointments in person and some online. Whichever type of appointment you are coming to, you are welcome to attend.  We are aiming to publish sign-ups for the parent meetings on Tuesday 18th October. The meetings are in week 2 of next half-term - Monday 7th, Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th of November. 

Fit for Sport-wrap around care

I have been working with their management to ensure the service is performing to its maximum ability. They will shortly be sending a survey and I will send it to all parents, so those that have used the provision in the past can also feed back. Within this is ensuring there is space for new bookings, as it is currently full.

Young Writers - Writing enrichment opportunity 

Meet the caterers

There will be an opportunity for parents to come in and talk to our caterers, 'Accent'. There will be a service of smaller portions for you to taste. The event will start at 2.30pm on Friday 25th November and finish by pickup. Please sign up here if you are interested.  https://forms.gle/Nd94QGsEdUfik1RMA

Library

Many thanks to all those parent volunteers who have been working to reinvigorate the library. Classes go in their once a week and after half-term there will be the opportunity to sign up for a lunchtime slot in the library. Please see the attached longer document with thanks and photos. 

Harvest Assemblies and food bank. 

A reminder about the email sent out last Friday regarding the Harvest Assemblies and collections from next week for the food bank:

During the week commencing the 17th October we have our Harvest Assemblies in the main hall at school and parents are invited to join us. We did not notify you of these dates in the previous newsletter but they have been on the school calendar on the website.
The assemblies involve a mixture of singing and poetry and will last between 20 and 30 minutes.
Unlike in the class assemblies, there will be no opportunity for photos or children coming to see parents at the end of the assembly. The children will lead out to finish the assembly. We will film the events and share them with you.

The dates are as follows and they all start at 9.15am.

Reception: Thursday 20th October
KS1 (Y1 & Y2): Wednesday 19th October
LKS2 (Y3 & Y4): Tuesday 18th October
UKS2 (Y5 & Y6): Friday 21st October

We would also like to collect for a local foodbank during the w/c 17th October. Please leave items on the trolleys by the school entrance at drop off/pick up. The list of items needed is below -

Items they currently need the most are:

• pasta sauce
• tinned spaghetti
• tinned custard & rice pudding
• tinned fruit
• tinned meat
• tinned fish
• female deodorant
• washing powder / tablets / washing up liquid
• unwanted carrier bags
• cereal
• rice
• long-life fruit juice & squash
• tinned or packet soup
• marmite & peanut butter
• shampoo
• cleaning spray
• toilet rolls

PSA

Thank you to former PSA committee members

Firstly, a huge thank you to Jodi Rowlands-Hunt, Andrew Gardiner and Arabella Ferrer (our former PSA Chairs and Class rep coordinator). They have given a massive amount of their time and energy to building our community, creating amazing events and raising serious money for our school over the last 2-3 years which is hugely appreciated and valued. We will miss your daily involvement but we know you’re still helping to bring PSA events together and cheering on from the sidelines.  If we could put your name up in lights around the school, we would! 

Fundraisers - £800 raised this week and thank yous!

We’ve had a busy week with two fundraising events - the Pre-Loved Uniform sale and the Halloween costume sale.  A special shout out to Maria Burgon who not only manages the lost property (which is a job in itself!) but also managed the uniform sale (no mean feat!).  Along with the team of volunteers who helped her on the day and with sorting through the mountain of uniforms (Lisa Bennett, Dimitra Dritsa, Anna Grigorjeva, Geri Brook-Walters, Emma Wigley, Emma Chau, Arabella Ferrer, Kath Hauge) they raised just under £700 for the school.  

Also, a big thank you to Penny Robinson and Laura Reilly for helping Sophie and I to coordinate and run the Halloween costume sale (admittedly a spontaneous idea of Sophie’s which we turned around, made a poster, got it up, got the bins out all in the space of about two minutes!).  That raised over £100.

These are both great initiatives as fundraisers and also to encourage sustainable clothing best practice so thanks for bringing these to life.

Reception and Year 1 drinks

We look forward to welcoming reception and Year 1 parents and carers on Friday.  You didn’t have to RSVP (in case you are worried that you did) so please just turn up!  Starts at 7.30pm.

Other updates

For any other PSA related events and enquiries, please head to Classlist where you’ll find everything you need to know.  And, if you have any fundraising or event ideas we would love to hear them so that we can work out a plan to support you bringing them to life.

Sophie and Calli

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