Sheen Mount Primary School

The school has changed significantly over the last few years with the addition of some excellent new facilities. We are now a three form entry school and will grow to our maximum size in 2020. Sheen Mount School aims for excellence. We promote this through an enriched curriculum and by supporting all children to fulfil their potential.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.At Sheen Mount we take our safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. The Headteacher, Ian Hutchings, is the school's Designated Safeguarding Lead.

At Sheen Mount School, we have experience of providing for the most frequently occurring special educational needs such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, social communication difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders, learning difficulties and behaviour difficulties. There are other kinds of special educational need, which do not occur as frequently and with which the school is less familiar, but we can access training and advice so that these kinds of needs can be met.

The school currently meets the needs of 17 pupils with Education, Health and Care plans or a statement of SEN where extra ‘top up’ funding comes from the local authority.These include the following kinds of need: autistic spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, social communication difficulties, sensory processing issues and global delay. In addition, there are genetic disorders with related educational needs including Downs Syndrome and Prader Willi Syndrome.

Sheen Mount supports a further 18 children under SEN Support with the following needs: speech and language delays, dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit disorder, global delay, specific learning difficulties and social and emotional health difficulties.

The school is the proud owner of a beautiful library, which the children use regularly to consult, read and borrow books.Thanks to the support of the Parent Staff Association the school is now able to provide an online version of its library catalogue.The new system, called Junior Librarian, allows pupils, staff and parents to view our school library catalogue online and pupils are encouraged to use this to help with research, to write reviews about books they have read and search for new books and other library resources.

Governors do not manage a school on a day-to-day basis but carry out an essential role in overseeing the development of the school. Governors may lend support in a variety of ways but all their responsibilities lead back to the core task of steering the school in its development. There are three central pillars supporting this endeavour.

Being a critical friend underpins school governorship. We can be defined as a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides information to be examined from another perspective, and offers critiques of a person’s work in a friendly way. A critical friend takes the time to fully understand the context of the work presented and the outcomes that the person or group is working toward. The friend is an advocate for the success of that work.Governing bodies are established by law as corporate bodies, responsibility for actions and decisions lies with the whole governing body and not with individual members.

The Sheen Mount School Governing Body is divided into three committees, Resources, Standards and Pastoral. Committees meet twice a term. The Full Governing Body also meets twice a term.The term of office for a governor is four years, which allows Governors sufficient time to see plans through from initial discussion to implementation. Of course, some Governors remain for much longer and this has often been the case at Sheen Mount.

A substantial time commitment is involved but nearly all preparatory reading can be done at home. Meetings are held at the school in the evenings. Governors are encouraged to, and regularly do, visit the school during the day.

Sheen Mount School is set in spacious grounds with mature trees and open spaces creating a welcoming environment. We are fortunate to be able to offer our children access to high quality learning, play and recreation facilities including a large sports field, an astro-sports surface, a large playground and a heated open-air swimming pool. Reception children benefit from their own dedicated play and outside learning space. Other features of the outdoor space are a trim-trail, two jungle-gyms, outdoor classroom and dedicated nature areas. The internal learning environment is being constantly enhanced and modernised. We have a large multi-purpose hall with stage lighting and blackout facilities.

Our well equipped classrooms all have Interactive Whiteboard technology. We also have a well resourced music room and ICT Suite. The whole school community works hard to provide the very best for all children – new ideas are always being explored to make the school an even better place to play, grow and learn.

Children are extremely well supported during their time at Sheen Mount. All staff work to ensure that children thrive in a caring setting and learn to make healthy choices and gain important life skills. Our experienced support staff enhance the class teaching and play a large part in pastoral care, particularly at playtimes. The support for children at playtime is further enhanced by our ‘Buddy’ system when older children assist younger children with games and activities. There are strong links with a varied range of external support agencies.

Children have many opportunities to contribute their opinions about school life both informally within their class and formally through School Council. Our Learning Support Team has dedicated bases within the school. These well resourced facilities are used to help children whose learning is developing at a different pace and who may require long or short-term individual or group support. Sheen Mount is a fully inclusive school with disabled access including a lift to the first floor. We are able to offer extended care for children through our on-site Breakfast Club and off-site after school provision.