Dear Parents,
I hope you had an enjoyable half-term. It was wonderful to welcome you back to the Harvest Assemblies and have large groups of children from different year groups singing inside together. Thank you especially to those musical members of staff who ensured each assembly was a success - Mrs Boa, Mrs Adams and Mrs O'Brien and, of course, Sally Rowley.
We look forward to parent consultation evening events next week, they are an important part of the parent school relationship; we hope that you find them useful.
The second half of Autumn Term is always a very busy but an exciting time. You can see below we have a STEM day planned and the reintroduction of the science bags. We have the start of class assemblies and we see the return of large scale Christmas concerts and performances. There are five separate Christmas events coming up - all of the dates for these were sent in the newsletter on the 29th September along with all the class assembly dates.
School events
We were delighted to welcome local MP, Sarah Olney to the school on Friday 21st October. She had a Q & A session with Years 5 and 6 and then all the school council. She was given a tour by three Year 6 children and met some staff.
Year 4 visited the Hindu temple in Wimbledon. In an action packed morning they were able to see the traditional dress and understand more about a Hindu temple and its rituals and resources.
Sports
Basketball
Our Year 3/4 team played against other local schools in the
Richmond Knights tournament on Tuesday 18th October. The team performed incredibly well, winning all their matches and the event. Well done to all those involved.
Tag rugby
Our Year 5/6 team went to the Richmond borough event on Friday 21st October. Many of the team had not had experience of playing in competitive rugby matches. Despite this, they remained unbeaten in the four morning matches, progressing to the next group stage. Unfortunately they didn't progress any further. However, in this mixed sport, all the team showed an excellent team spirit.
Cross-country
Congratulations to Ava Abel in Year 6, who has qualified to represent her borough in Cross-country for the London Youth Games, following her run in a Junior Parkrun. We wish her all the best running up Parliament Hill.
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, we are looking forward to seeing you. The meetings are next week - Monday 7th, Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th of November.
STEM DAY - from our Design and Technology Lead, Miss Costa
We are thrilled to be holding a whole school STEM Day on Thursday the 1st December. All children will participate in our STEM Day challenge in small groups. Please send your child in with a bag of junk modelling items (preferably recyclable), the week commencing 21st November, to contribute to a central class store. The children will use these items in the making process. There will be a design homework linked to the STEM Day challenge, set on Thursday 24th November.
Science Bags - from our Science Lead, Mrs Adams
After a couple of years' hiatus, the popular science take home bags have been replenished and relaunched, thanks to funding from the PSA and a lot of hard work from Mrs Hay. Each class has a bag of age-appropriate science equipment and every week a child will be selected to take the bag home for the weekend and then bring it back the following week and tell the class all about their scientific discoveries.
If your child brings a science bag home, please encourage them to explore and enjoy the equipment, but also to treat it with care. There is an exercise book in the bag which your child can use to record their learning, in writing or through drawings or photographs. This is optional - the main purposes of the bags are to build science capital and encourage scientific exploration and talk both at home and in school. A list and/or photo of the contents is included in each bag; please ensure that your child returns all items to the bag and brings it back to school in good time so that another child can enjoy it.
Please note that as we are starting this initiative part of the way through the academic year, there may not be sufficient weeks remaining for every child to take a bag home by the end of the summer term. However, this is a rolling programme that happens in every year group so any child that does not receive a bag in their current class will have several opportunities to do so in future year groups.
I hope that the children enjoy being scientists at home!
Santa's Grotto - Christmas fair
Following the success of previous years, Santa and his grotto will be coming to the Christmas Fair on the 3rd December. His Elves have reserved the first set of tickets to meet him for children on the SEN register. If your child is on the register, and you think they would like a ticket, please contact Flora Gates, via Classlist to find out more.
General Santa’s Grotto tickets will go on sale soon, so keep a look-out for them.
Christmas fair and wear your own clothes day
The Christmas fair is coming up on Saturday 3rd December. We look forward to announcing some new exciting eating options available at the fair.
We traditionally have a wear your own (Be Yourself) clothes day and children bring in a bottle for the bottle tombola. The date will be Thursday 1st December. You'll see from above this is the same day as the STEM day, which works well as the children will be in their own clothes for this interactive day.
Travelling Book Fair
We are delighted to be able to host the Travelling Books Book Fair this month. As per Miss Breckon's email, the school receives money for every purchase made.
It will be available to It will be available to visit from Monday 21st November to Thursday 23rd November, bringing you a range of the latest children's books. The fair will be open after school pick-up from 3:30-4pm.
Halloween Sale
Well done to some children in 4S who arranged a sale by themselves - creating posters, making cards and bracelets and cakes to sell! They raised a total of £146 this afternoon. 50% to the PSA and 50% to the Ukrainian humanitarian Appeal. What an amazing achievement!
Children in Need
This will be our focused whole school charity collection for this half-term. As it is the 'Great Spotacular', we suggest wearing something spotty as you wear your own clothes and have a 'Be Yourself' day. The date is Friday 18th November. Please donate through the link below.
https://www.justgiving.com/Sheen-Mount-Primary-School10
Christmas Bags - local charity
The school will be supporting a local charity where children put contents in gift bags that go to those in need in the community. The charity is below and the deadline is the end of November. We will provide you with more information around this in a separate email.
https://www.richmondgoodneighbours.org.uk/
Meet the caterers
A reminder of this event - thank you to those that have signed up.
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
Parent Parking
This seems to be better at the drop-off and pick up times with parents aware of the zig-zag lines and not blocking local residents pathways. We did, however, have an incident where we received a complaint from a local neighbour about a parent arguing about parking across their drive - this was disappointing and frustrating to hear.
We have also had reports of unsympathetic parking when dropping off at 8am clubs. Whilst the zig-zag lines are not enforced until exactly 8am, could I please ask parents to consider where they park for these clubs. Your actions could endanger other children within our community. The school has made a concerted drive around its club provision - for example on a Tuesday morning there are seven clubs starting before school. Therefore, the road will be busy with around 80 children coming into school at this time - please be considerate when choosing where and how you park.
SwimWay opening on Sundays
You may be aware that SwimWay are opening on a Sunday, which will involve increase rental for the school. We are also happy to announce SwimWay will be providing 12 complimentary spaces, in these Sunday lessons, to disadvantaged children within our school community.
We are also pleased that within this new application, the staff at the school will be able to swim before school as a healthy start to their day.
Please see below the offer from SwimWay.
We are delighted to announce that SwimWay will begin teaching on Sundays from January. Currently, we are offering a 10% discount to any new bookings exclusively to Sheen Mount Parents on Sundays for the Spring Term only. In case you wanted to query about any opportunity or spaces please email sheenmount@swimway.co.uk or call SwimWay's offices on 0208 871 3972.
Parenting Group
A message from the AfC parenting lead:
We have a free parent group starting later this month in Kingston.
Family Transitions Triple P is designed for parents experiencing personal distress from separation or divorce, which is impacting on or complicating their parenting.
Please see the attachment for further information.
Richmond Dyslexia Coffee Morning
Fellow parents of Dyslexic children meet to discuss our experiences, ideas, and tips etc on how to raise competent, confident children and help them manage life at school, home, etc.
Next coffee morning is Friday, November 25, from 9:30 to 11:00.
It is outside (so dress warmly) at the Tide Table Café under the arches of Richmond Bridge. TW9 1TH.
Contact Kim Pryde for more details.
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
