Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Dear families,

It was so lovely to have a school full of children dressed in their comfortable reading clothes, many pyjamas, on Friday. The children enjoyed talking about their favourite books and what reading means to them!

Excitement has been high in year 2 this week. They have started their new writing unit on Traction Man, and unbeknown to the children, he had hidden himself all over the school. The buzz and happiness of the children as they found him in his various hiding places will definitely lead to some wonderful writing.

Next week, we are looking forward to our second whole school geography fieldwork day (reception will be doing theirs in the summer term). Classes will be going to the river, Richmond Park, and into Richmond town. Year 6 are visiting a newly built office block and will be finding out about the building’s sustainable features.

Thank you to those who attended our evening where we launched our Vineyard Vision and to those who would like to join virtually, we have rearranged the meeting for 04.10.24 at 2pm. Please join here. Sorry for the technical issues this morning. Our next parent engagement event is a workshop on Behaviour for Learning on Tuesday 15th October at 9.15am. This has been timed to follow the Open Classrooms event, an opportunity for your child to show you their books, 8.45-9.15am.

A very important date is coming up in the PTA diary - PTA AGM, 09.10.2024 at 7pm in school - please put it in your diaries and come along if you can.

Please do speak to me or a member of the team on the gate in the morning or email me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Frances

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Mustard Ingredients contaminated with Peanuts - Update

You may have seen a number of recent news reports and recalls related to mustard ingredients contaminated with peanuts. The Food Standards Agency has identified one company who has supplied these ingredients for use in UK food (FGS Ingredients Ltd.). Brakes, our produce supplier, have confirmed that they do not source mustard ingredients directly from FGS Ingredients Ltd. There is no evidence that other suppliers have been affected so far.

We take matters of this nature incredibly seriously, and we are in contact with our suppliers regarding their sourcing of mustard and mustard-containing ingredients. As a precaution, our suppliers are reviewing all products to ensure they do not contain mustard, and will remove any found from our kitchens and buying lists immediately.

Whilst implicated products are being identified, and because of the severity of some allergic reactions to peanuts, we have removed PASTA from our current menu. If your child ordered a pasta dish today, they were offered a choice of alternative meals.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

My Diversity Recipe by Tanvi Jain (6G)

Tanvi was inspired by a poem she had read at home and decided to create her own diversity recipe - what a beautiful poem Tanvi!   

Ingredients: 

One world

Different Cultures

Heaps of lovely kindness

Spoonfuls of love and friendship 

Take one giant world, crack it into a bowl,

Gently mix your cultures in with the world and stir, 

Season with kindness, love and friendship,

Then, transfer into an exciting, fun cake tin, 

Next, place it in an over for 5 minutes, 

Remove from the oven and serve a slice of world where everyone is different and everyone gets along. 

Attendance

Well done to all the year groups getting above 96%. 

Frances Bracegirdle - headteacher

Harvest Festival Donations 

On 7th October, our assembly will focus on the Harvest Festival and as part of that we would like to ask families for food donations to give to the Richmond Foodbank, e.g. tinned food, long life juice and milk. Please click here to find out what food is specifically needed, and any donations can be given to your child's class teacher on Monday 7th October. Thank you in advance for your support. 

The Vineyard SEND Coffee Morning

At The Vineyard School, we offer an inclusive environment for all in order to best support our children to access the curriculum, manage their emotions and support any behavioural challenges, ensuring we are setting them up to become the best version of themselves. 

On Wednesday 16th October at 9.00-9.30am, Mrs Qualter and Miss Jackson, our school SENcos, are hosting a coffee morning in the library at The Vineyard School. This is a great opportunity to meet the Inclusion Team and find out how you can access their support as well as to meet other parents.

If you would like to attend this coffee morning, please sign up using the link below: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1009266070987?aff=oddtdtcreator

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 16th October at 9am.

Meet the teacher

We hope you found the meet the teacher events useful. Here are the slides for each year group:

Year 1        Year 2        Year 3         Year 4        Year 5        Year 6

Significant Dates

Please see the link here to the significant dates.

Changes to last weeks document:

• Rearranged Launching The Vineyard Vision event - Friday 4th October 2-2.30pm online
• Launching our Anti Racist Pledge - Friday 22nd November 8.45 for a 9am start

Coats

The wet weather this week has been a reminder to organise wet and colder weather clothing this weekend. Children will still go out at lunchtime and for outdoor PE unless it is pouring with rain.

SPORTS CLUBS: Children attending outdoor sport clubs in the AM and PM must have a waterproof jacket in their bag, should it start raining. The clubs do not stop for light rain. Children without waterproof jackets will have to sit out under the cover and phone calls will be made for collection.

Hats and gloves can take the chill off the cooler air. Activities on the field (Football, Rugby, American Football) would benefit from a dry pair of socks and clean footwear. This will make their school day warm and comfortable.