Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Dear all families,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely break and found time to recharge your batteries and have some fun.

This term has got off to a fantastic start, right from the moment I opened the gate, met by lots of smiling children shouting out 'good morning'. As I walked around school on Monday, it was a delight to see our Vineyard curriculum up and running. In year 4, it was science and art. Our budding musicians in year 3 were enjoying their music lessons. Year 5 were warming up the term with PE, not to mention, children engrossed in their English and maths being taught across the year groups. The first week, especially the first day of term, is almost the most important, as it sets the tone for the term ahead and is the start of our new units of learning. 

I would like to remind all families of our uniform policy. We will be raising expectations of this in the coming weeks. There have been numerous cases where children have come in with dyed hair and this is in breach of our policy. 

In addition, I have some other exciting news... I am delighted to announce that Alice McArdle (Assistant Headteacher) is expecting twins in May. I am sure you will all join me in wishing her many congratulations and best wishes for the upcoming months.

Best wishes (stay warm),

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Considerate Parking

On Tuesday, a councillor from Richmond came to monitor the traffic situation in the morning. We witnessed Vineyard families parking on double yellow lines, the zigzag lines next to the gate and across the school drive. Please be thoughtful about where you park, as this really does affect the safety of our children. We do understand that some families need to drive to school, but encourage those families to park a 5 or 10-minute walk away.

Safeguarding

If you would like to be a parent/carer volunteer, the window for applying for DBS' is open for a very short time. To apply for one, please contact the office. 

Data Collection - important!

We are in the process of updating our records. Please complete this form as soon as possible. Thank you.

Attendance

Well done to Reception, Year 3 and Year 5 for getting above 96%!

The classes that have got a slice of pizza on their chart (no lates) are Ruby, Carnelian and Onyx! Well done!

Miss McArdle- Assistant Headteacher 

International Day

We are celebrating International Day on 2nd Feb to celebrate the backgrounds of all of our children. We are asking children to come in wearing clothes that represent where they are from. This could be traditional clothing from their country, the colours of the flag etc. The teachers will also be planning activities, and you will hear more from them about this. 

Celebrating Festivals

We’d love to hear about any festivals that you are celebrating as a family. You could come and talk to your child’s class or send in some photos of the celebrations for your child to share with their friends in class. If you would like to share your experiences, contact your child’s class teacher via the year group email address.

Teaching and Learning at The Vineyard - Soft Starts

This week, we have kick-started Spring term with our new approach to soft starts. Soft starts happen between 8.35 and 8.45 as soon as the children enter the classroom. They focus on an area of knowledge that has already been taught in class. This time gives children an opportunity to practice their memory retrieval and share what they remember. It’s great insight for your child’s class teacher to see what your child has embedded or hasn’t embedded, yet. The stimulus is always presented in the same format (see examples below). The task design is the same each time, so your child’s working memory is not having to work too hard. Instead, your child’s brain is being exercised to retrieve previous knowledge to move the knowledge into their long term memory. Retrieval practice is a vital component to your child’s learning.

Soft starts also provide consistency and predictability, whereby children can feel successful from the beginning of their school day. Therefore, we strongly encourage that your child/ren arrive at school at 8.30 to be in class for 8.35 to take part in the soft start.

Teachers also use this time to provide emotional check-ins for those that need this, read with children, select children to respond to marking and provide spelling/times table practice for specific children.

Here’s a link to the research that supports our approach based on Rosenshine’s Principles.

Ms Reilly and Mrs Dempster 

Assistant Headteachers for Teaching & Learning

Green Team Update

The Green Team held their first meeting of the new year this week and the main focus of the agenda was to plan our upcoming assembly. The children were keen to share all the things that the school community could do in and around school to help look after the environment, particularly recycling paper and turning off lights. Last year’s Green Team created paper recycling posters that are displayed on bins and this year’s Green Team have the challenge of creating a classroom poster to promote turning off lights and electrical equipment. The team are incredibly eager to make a positive impact on their school and the wider world.

ADHD Course - it is free so if you are interested, click the link here to register.

PTA News