Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Dear Families,

What a busy couple of weeks it has been at The Vineyard! We have had lots going on across the school and plenty of opportunities to come together as a community. Our values of caring, curious and courageous have been at the heart of so much of this.

We were really pleased to share our Vineyard Vision for 2026–27 with our community. Thank you to everyone who came along, listened, asked questions and shared your thoughts. It was great to have the opportunity to talk together about where we are heading and what we want for our children and our school. Thank you for engaging so positively with the conversation. The slides from the session can be found here.

We also held our Vineyard Lunch and Snack Policy Workshop. Although it was a small group, we had a really useful conversation about food, particularly around allergy awareness and how we can continue to make sure everyone feels safe and included. We also received some lovely feedback about the food provided at EDP, which was great to hear.

It was lovely to welcome our Reception families to a coffee morning. It was a relaxed and informal morning where families could meet each other and get to know members of our senior leadership team. We also held a coffee morning for our new families in Years 1–6, giving them a chance to meet some other families and ask any questions they might have.

And then we finished the fortnight with Who’s in the Inflatable? What a lot of fun! Staff arrived in costume and were met with lots of excited children trying to work out who was who. The chanting of “Take it off! Take it off!” as everyone waited for the big reveals was a highlight! It was a brilliant afternoon and a lovely reminder of what a great community we have at The Vineyard. So many families and staff joined in, and there was lots of laughter throughout. A huge thank you to everyone who came along, contributing to our staff wellbeing fund and, of course, to the staff who were brave enough to dress up and take part. You gave us all a good laugh! 

Looking ahead to next week, I hope to see lots of you at our Family Forum on Tuesday. If you are able to join us, please sign up using the google form below. We really value having the opportunity to hear your thoughts and ideas and to continue working together as a school community.

The Vineyard Vision 2026-27 workshop slides

Our Packed Lunch and Snacks policy workshop slides

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Best wishes,

Frances

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

What is coming up in the next couple of weeks?

• Family Forum – 06.10.2026 at 9.15-10.15

We’d love to invite you to our Family Forum. It’s a chance to get together and have an open conversation about family engagement and communication at The Vineyard.

We want to hear from you about what matters to your family, what’s working well, and what we could do differently.

Please complete the form so we know how many will be joining us.

• Flu Vaccination – Reception - Year 6–08.10.2026 

Flu Vaccination Letter – please complete the consent form in the letter even if you do not want your child vaccinated

• Family teacher meetings – 13.10.2026, 3.30-7pm

You can book this through Arbor.

• Family teacher meetings 15.10.2026, 3.30–6.30pm

Celebrating Our Diverse Community – Black History Month

At The Vineyard, we are incredibly proud of the diverse community we are part of. Our children come from different backgrounds, cultures and experiences, and we want every child to feel that their identity, heritage and story is valued, respected and celebrated.

As part of this commitment, we will be recognising Black History Month throughout October, alongside our ongoing work to celebrate the many cultures and communities that make up our school and wider society.

This year’s theme is ‘Honouring Our Communities’ – a wonderful opportunity for us to think about the people who shape, support and strengthen the communities around us, and to recognise the many contributions of Black people to our country and our world.

We have lots planned across the school. We will begin with a whole school assembly introducing this year’s theme, and throughout October children will explore carefully chosen books, discover the stories and achievements of Black scientists who have helped shape our world, and take part in activities and conversations linked to honouring and celebrating our communities.

We hope these experiences will inspire curiosity, encourage thoughtful conversations and help our children to learn about people and stories that they may not otherwise encounter. Most importantly, we want our children to understand that celebrating difference makes our community stronger.

Black History Month gives us a particular opportunity to shine a light on Black histories, voices and contributions, while our commitment to celebrating diversity at The Vineyard continues throughout the year.

We look forward to sharing some of the children’s learning and reflections with you over the coming weeks!

Miss Sanchez

Racial Justice Lead

Volunteering at The Vineyard

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 have updated their rules on volunteering in schools. The level of DBS check you need to volunteer depends on how frequently you want to volunteer.

To volunteer, parents must have attended our volunteer training, read our safeguarding documents and completed a safeguarding form.

The next volunteer training session will be on Monday 12th October at 9am. A sign up form will be sent out soon. 

Mrs Dempster

Designated Safeguarding Lead

The Vineyard Orchestra and Percussion Tuition

The Vineyard Orchestra has started its exciting new collaboration with Thomas’s College, in which our students sit side by side with the older children in the College’s beautiful Recital Hall, making music together under the baton of Thomas’s Director of Music. Rehearsals take place on Wednesdays after lunch. Aurelia said “Wednesdays are my favourite day” and we agree with her!

If you would like your child to learn percussion please appply online via the Richmond Music Trust website.

Miss Scafe, one of our wonderful teaching and learning assistants, is running a half marathon!

On Sunday 11th October, I’ll be swapping my usual Sunday plans for 13.1 miles around the Royal Parks Half Marathon — and, rather ambitiously, I’ve decided to make this my first ever half-marathon!

I’ll be running to raise money for Amnesty International, whose mission is to create a future where everyone can enjoy their human rights.

So, if anyone in our lovely Vineyard community would like to help me through the inevitable blisters, questionable life choices and 13.1 miles, I’d be incredibly grateful for your support! Every donation, however big or small, will make a real difference.

Thank you so much — and wish me luck!

If you would like to join us for The Vineyard school fireworks, please follow the link for tickets – Vineyard Fireworks Tickets

Please note that children who attend our Gems are eligible for a band which will allow them to go to the front of the queue. If you have a child who might benefit from this arrangement please get in touch with Frances Bracegirdle. There will also be a quiet space available.

Harvest Donations 

This Harvest, we are once again collecting donations to support our local charity, Vineyard Community, which helps local families in need. We would be very grateful for donations of non-perishable food and household items. The items most needed are:

• Tinned vegetables & meat
• Tinned fruit 
• Fruit juice
• Pasta sauce
• Long-life milk
• Rice pudding & custard
• Rice (500g)
• Jam & spreads
• Coffee & cereals
• Toilet rolls
• Washing-up powder/pods & washing-up liquid
• Disposable razors & shaving foam
• Deodorant

Please bring donations into school and hand them to your class teacher from Monday 12th October to Thursday 15th October.  Every donation, however big or small, will make a difference and help support our local community.

Thank you so much for your generosity and support. You can find out more about the charity here:

https://www.vineyardcommunity.org/