Dear Parents,
I hope you are well and enjoyed the Easter break. Walking around the classrooms and school this week, it is clear the children have settled back into the routines and their teaching and learning with positivity and enthusiasm.
The summer term is always an exciting time in school with so much going on inside and outside the classrooom. The school residential trips start next week with Year 4 going to Juniper Hall for two nights from Wednesday. As you can imagine, taking 90 children away is a sizeable responsibility for the staff that attend, so thank you in advance to all those who give up their time to take the children.
Woodland Trail
We also look forward to making the most of all our outside space. I had a wonderful walk through the woodland area (behind the astroturf fence) this week and the first stage of clearing and preparation is complete - mostly through voluntary work through our teaching assistant, Ewa Hay - thank you to her. There is an endless amount of wood chips, so the area can be accessed regardless of the weather. We now have some plans to use the PSA funds raised last year to create more authentic spaces within this area and really maximise its use, e.g. bird hides, small bridges and wooden structures.
This is a bit of a hidden gem that I am determined we make better use of. From the edge of the trees to the walls, there is around 5m width and then we can follow it all the way from the edge of the playground to the sensory garden, which is up by the entrance to the school. We have forest school already for R and KS1 and with the re-vamped pond, we want to continue to ensure there are opportunities for children from all age groups.
In the same area, we also have plans to reinvigorate the outdoor classroom at minimal cost, by replacing the rotten wooden slats with recyclable plastic ones that will hopefully last longer.
We look forward to sharing it with you when it is completed.
Reception clear up day
The reception team have been organising with their reps and parents to have a clear up day on Sunday 28th April from 10 - 2pm. They are still on the hunt for someone with some carpentry skills as the outdoor stage and the mud kitchen need fixing. Please contact the office if you are able to help.
Uniform
A reminder please to ensure that PE shorts/leggings/skorts should be black. They should also not have any markings or logos along them. Various different colours have been appearing this week. When we switched from white to black shorts, we said that white ones could be worn whilst we transition. From September, this will not be the case.
Please also ensure school shoes are completely black - if they break, or you are waiting for new ones, please ensure a note is sent to the class teacher with timescales so that they are aware.
Behaviour
We always have high standards and high expectations of the children and in order to ensure we maintain these, we have produced some areas we want the children to focus on this term. This has been shared in assemblies with the children and the class teachers discuss it with their classes. The language has been adapted for reception children.
The connection between home and school is an important one and no doubt, you have many of the same messages at home.
Treat other people how you wish to be treated
Key manners - please and thank you and quiet corridors
‘4 way’ respect from all - Child to Adult, Adult to Child, Child to Child, Adult to Adult
Speak and listen the same way to all adults within the school
Remember our golden rules and living values
Do not use inappropriate language you do not understand the meaning of
Residential trips feedback -all year groups
Please see below the link for the feedback form for the residential trips.
As mentioned previously, we are reviewing our school residential trip offer due to spiralling costs of the Y6 trips. All the information is explained in the form and we would welcome your comments - it will take two minutes to fill in.
We are committed to having three residential trips in Y4, Y5 & Y6 and we are not surveying around the Y4 trip, as we are happy with the cost and the position this has within the school.
Regardless of the survey, it can be very difficult to move around school trips involving 90 children due to availability.
https://forms.gle/tmfaq9XNpKHDHYYb9
KS2 Cross Country
After the rain at the end of last term, we have rescheduled this event for Friday 3rd May.
The same timings and arrangements as last time.
Y4 and Y3 will be from 2pm and Y5/6 from 2.30pm.
Mobile phone/WhatsApp/Age appropriate computer games
In reference to behaviour, one aspect we do see on occasion is children using language they do not understand. We need to question where this is stemming from. This, of course, could be from peers within their or other years, but it still needs to have stemmed from somewhere.
One feedback we have for you is to ensure if computer games are being played, that they are age appropriate.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews
An initiative I have become aware of (that is certainly very interesting) is around children under 16 years and the use of smartphones. Whilst phones are a very useful tool for our older children walking to and from school, do they need to be smartphones? There is a petition about this, which we have listed here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/655473
Ambassadors
It is the turn of our language ambassadors this week:
In our roles as Sheen Mount’s language ambassadors, we have been spreading the message to all children that learning a different language is a great way to communicate with other people. There are about 40 different languages spoken by children at our school and if you come from a family like us where you have grown up being able to speak a different language - in our cases Ukrainian and Turkish - we think you should feel really proud.
It’s fantastic that we can communicate with our grandparents in their languages and we think that the different languages we are able to speak is part of who we are and a very important part of our family lives. We have also encouraged children to understand that when you are older it might be really helpful to speak a different language to help you do your job or when you go to travel or even live in another country. And not everyone across the world speaks English. Did you know that Spanish is spoken by almost 500 million people across the world? It is the official language of 20 countries. So think of the number of people you could talk to if you could speak their language! We think that all the children at our school should really try and enjoy learning Italian when they are in Key Stage 1 and then French in Key Stage 2. It’s all about giving it a go and not being too bothered about making mistakes, otherwise how will you learn?
Alara and Alex
Message from Miss Lawton, our PE curriculum lead
The London marathon is taking place on the 21st of April. We are taking part in TSC Mini London Marathon from our school grounds. As a school we will be running a total of 2.6 miles during our PE lessons, between 15th of April and 10th of May. If we complete it, we will win a trophy!
https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/the-event/tcs-mini-london-marathon
Mr Brown's holiday camp
It has been very welcome to hear the positive feedback of Mr Brown's holiday clubs. Whilst Mr Brown takes all the sports teams at school, he is also passionate about all children accessing and participating in sport. We have been moving the year groups and activities around to see what would work in the holidays and Mr Brown was particularly pleased as to how well the day worked when he had children from year groups across the school attending.
He will shortly be sharing the dates and year groups for May half-term and the summer holidays.
Clubs
Below is a list of clubs that have a lot of availability in them at the moment. If certain clubs do not have sufficient numbers, they unfortunately will not be able to run.
Accent catering parent food event
A reminder of this event from the previous newsletter. Over thirty parents have signed up and there is more space available.
We have arranged another session for parents to attend the accent catering presentation, taste the school food and then ask questions. It will be on Friday 17th May from 2.30pm -3.20pm. Please sign up here:
https://forms.gle/U5vk7AP9KFRkMaDW7
School attendance
You may have heard the various radio adverts from the DfE around school attendance and ensuring children are at school. The main messages within this is the temperature threshold for your child being off is recommended at 38 degrees. In addition, if your child has mild cold symptoms with a lower temperature, they are fine to come in.
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/01/03/improving-school-attendance/
International school award
We have successfully applied for the foundation level for the International School award from the British council. We now have our sights set on the intermediate award within the next 18 months.
Thank you to Mrs O'Brien and Mrs Sparkes for their work on the application process.
The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life and work in today’s world.
The British Council International School Award started in 1999 to recognise the schools leading the way in instilling and developing a global dimension into the learning experience of all children and young people. It is managed by the British Council.
And finally...
I know the weather might not feel like the middle of spring, but make sure you look up as you come in through the blue gates - the wisteria has sprung to life!
Have a good weekend
Best wishes
Tom Holmes - Headteacher
Maria O'Brien - Deputy Headteacher
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