Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Dear Families,

On Monday, we held a special Remembrance Assembly, led by Miss Reilly and Mr. Murphy. During this time, we reflected on those who have been and continue to be affected by war and conflict. Our thoughts are especially with the families for whom this remains a reality.

Thank you to all the families who attended the recent parent-teacher meetings. We hope you found the discussions informative and that you received valuable insights into your child’s progress, as well as next steps for their learning. Our teachers always find it incredibly rewarding to connect with the families of their students.

Last week, we hosted a very successful Open Morning for prospective families, ably led by our wonderful Year 6 pupils: Joseph, Annie, Ivy, Cheryl, Sophia, Defne, Julian, Alex, and Gabi. They did an outstanding job of showcasing our school. The visitors were also treated to some beautiful live music performances: Anvik, Effy, Florence, and Lucy played "Galopede" as a recorder quartet, while Melisa, Nina, and Nuria performed "Somewhere Only We Know" with their voices. These students truly embodied the Vineyard value of "Courageous" by performing in front of an unfamiliar audience—and they absolutely nailed it! Well done! We are always eager to hear from children who would like to participate in performance opportunities like this. If your child is interested, please email music@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk.

Music continues to thrive at The Vineyard, with lessons taking place in the Cottage alongside those provided by Richmond Music Trust, Rocksteady, and TotallyRAD. It’s wonderful to see that 63% of KS2 children have taken up instrument lessons this term (52% of the school overall)—an incredible achievement! We are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to expanding our music provision. It’s no small task!

We are also excited about launching our Anti-Racist Pledge and Action Plan. A workshop on this important initiative will be held at 9am on 22nd November, and we warmly invite all families to attend. Please take a moment to visit our newly added Anti-Racism Pledge page, which outlines the ways in which we celebrate diversity at The Vineyard.

Looking ahead, we have some exciting Year 5 assemblies coming up, as well as several sports competitions, including table tennis, cross-country, and football. I have no doubt our children will compete with true Vineyard spirit and pride.

Finally, thank you to Miss Tapernoux, who joined me as headteacher today. She helped with the celebration assemblies, serving salad and playground duties at lunchtime. We also did some learning wanders to monitor what the children were learning today. She has been a great help. Thank you!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead.

Frances

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Attendance

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

Please see the guidance from the NHS about whether a child is well enough to come to school or not.

Frances Bracegirdle - headteacher

Teaching and Learning at The Vineyard

A key area of focus at school over the last few years has been around raising the expectations of behaviour across the school, and we have seen significant improvement, particularly with the children's understanding of what is expected and unexpected behaviour. We created behaviour posters for the whole community to clearly outline what is expected and unexpected behaviour and the next steps/consequences if needed. Please find these posters here for your reference. The language of 'expected' and 'unexpected' behaviour has been fully embedded in school and some families have even reported that the posters and language have been useful to use at home! 

Ms Reilly and Mrs Dempster 

Assistant Headteachers for Teaching & Learning

STEM Week 2024

What an incredible Science Week we've had at The Vineyard! From exciting experiments to engaging projects and workshops, the curiosity and enthusiasm shown by everyone made it a memorable experience. The Science Fair was the highlight, showcasing projects that amazed and impressed us all. It was clear how much effort went into each display, and the results were outstanding. A special congratulation goes out to all the children who participated and the families that came to join them — your creativity, hard work, and passion for science were truly inspiring!

Sam Miller 

Science Lead 

Anti-Bullying Week 

The children enjoyed their workshops this week about how to recognise bullying and what to do if they see it. 

It was lovely to see the children representing their uniqueness through odd socks on Friday as well. 

Richmond Young Writers’ Festival Update 

Thank you to the writers who have been coming to Monday lunchtime’s writing clinic in Carnelian class.

Writing about the theme of ‘changes’, children have been developing their fictional and non-fiction ideas, about changes both big and small. This week saw the completion of a poem about the transition from last school year to this. We also have promising work-in-progress inspired by the natural world, an international relocation, plus innovative poetic musing on ‘if cats take over the world’, amongst others.

For those interested, it's not too late to start writing...! 

Emma Norman 

Carnelian Class Teacher