Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Dear all families,

It has been a week of dodging the rain, although at points we didn't manage to and there were a few wet families! Thank you to Ms Foster who has worked incredibly hard to organise and run the events this week. Every time I went outside, raincoat on, the children looked to be having a wonderful time showing off the skills they have learnt in PE during the year. Thank you to all of you who managed to come and support too.

The Year 6 production is well under way and their singing is filling our corridors. They are also busy preparing for their Enterprise Project which is next Thursday, see below. 

It is that time of year when we are preparing to say goodbye to Year 6, a few other children and some staff. This always comes with mixed emotions as everyone leaving is off to start a new exciting adventure but for us it is very sad to see them go. Here is a link to the teaching staff who are leaving us at the end of this academic year.

We are very excited to welcome some new people to our team. We have recruited a range of teachers which differing experience.  Please see the link to find out a bit more about who they are. I am sure you will join me in welcoming them to The Vineyard.

Please do remember that if you would like to speak to me about anything I am often on the gate but if not there email me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Safeguarding

We strongly recommend that when the time comes for children to have a mobile phone, they do not have an expensive smartphone but a simple, slightly cheaper phone. When children are walking around with their very expensive phones in their hand they are vulnerable to theft.

We also want to remind families that if children do have smartphones, they should not be using WhatsApp and making groups. If you have a concern around what your child is doing online, please do come and speak to me. 

Alice McArdle, Safeguarding Lead

Racial Justice Update

This week Miss Sanchez, who is our Racial Justice Lead, will be asking a selection of children across the school what they think diversity means, how they feel represented at our school and how they think their culture is celebrated. This is to ensure we are delivering a diverse curriculum, that represents the different backgrounds and cultures in our community.  We are very excited to be on this journey as a school, ready to listen and take action,​ on what we believe is a vital part of the children's development. We will be sharing more activities and plans for the next academic year and look forward to working with you on this.

Attendance

Well done to Year 3 & 4, the only two year groups who achieved our goal of 96%!

Miss McArdle- Assistant Headteacher 

Teaching and learning

We are delighted to see so many children enjoying our new history timeline and map on display in our school corridor and small hall. The children have been asking each other lots of questions about the world map, discussing family and friends that live in different parts of the world, the places they’ve visited, the capital cities of those countries and significant places, including the seven wonders of the world. Our History and Geography Lead, Amy Reilly, has worked with a graphic design company to design the display with the objective of including all the significant historical events covered in The Vineyard history curriculum within living memory to 1066 (as set-out by the National Curriculum). The world map in the small hall pinpoints the countries that our bespoke Vineyard geography curriculum includes from Reception to Year 6.

Educational research around the ‘forgetting curve’ strongly suggests that children are able to know more and remember more when they are given the opportunity to revisit and rehearse their learning at key points throughout an academic year. We aim for our displays, such as the large scale world map and timeline, to act as additional opportunities for children to discuss key curriculum knowledge as they walk along their corridors and discuss what they can see, further embedding the learning into their long-term memory.

Please do talk to your children about the world map and timeline and challenge them to share at least 1 fact they discovered when looking at the displays this week.

For more information on the forgetting curve please see link.

Ms Reilly- AHT Teaching & Learning

Y6 Enterprise Project Market Day - Thursday 13th July

Y6 Enterprise Project Market Day is on Thursday 13th July and is open to all children in KS2. There will be 17 stalls involving games and challenge for the children - no food or drink this year. If your child would like to participate, please send them in with maximum £5 (in coins please) in a labelled envelope.

Money will be collected by class teachers from Monday onwards.

If they win any sweets as prizes, they will bring them home to eat!

Helping to prepare the children for secondary school talk

This week we enjoyed a presentation for Year 6 parents given by an Assistant Headteacher from Tiffin Girls’ School. The theme was how to support your child to have a successful transition to secondary school, with a particular focus on study skills and homework management. Going forward, we are planning to develop strong links with the TGS outreach team, to ensure that we access both learning and training opportunities for The Vineyard.

Message from Mrs Axbey

As you will know, I am leaving The Vineyard at the end of the term and if anyone would like a final conversation about any work that I am doing or have done with your child before then, please do let me know, and I will do my best to arrange a call or meeting.

PTA News

End of Term Party for adults

The PTA invites all parents and staff of the Vineyard to the End of the Year party in the school grounds on Tuesday 18th July from 19:00 to 22:00. We will be saying our goodbyes to the staff leavers, including our beloved Mrs Axbey. We will also say thank you for the whole year of hard work to the entire staff team and our parent volunteers. All the adult school community are welcome (this is an adult only event). There will be a complimentary welcome drink provided by the PTA and then further drinks will be available to buy from the PTA bar.
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 18th July!

Raising money for Home-Start - Uma Proderick, Year 5

After a PHSE talk about babies, I was speaking to my mother about how it was when I was born. During our conversation we were speaking about the challenges families face and my mother mentioned Home Start. Their government funding was cut a few years ago. This is what they say about themselves https://www.home-start.org.uk/about-us

Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times.

Together with my friends Leyla and Gia from Y5 Moonstone, I am holding a cake and lolly sale on Friday 14th July to raise money for the charity. Please bring cash and change and support us generously!

Ideas for the summer holidays

Richmond Museum

• The Museum of Richmond is free to visit
• We have free and easy crafts for families to enjoy
• Free TRAILS to help you explore the Museum with prizes
• Our family workshops are only £6 perchild, adults are free
• We have week-long summer schools for students aged 11 and over, to help keep them busy and get creative.

Kew Gardens- £1 entrance to Kew Gardens for families on universal credit see here.

Little Seedlings - monthly free children's gardening club at Ham library. Little Seedlings is a new, free children's gardening and nature club at Ham Library that meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 3.45pm. Additional sessions are held during school holidays. An adult must accompany.