The Vineyard School Parent Portal

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Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Friday 21st April 2023

Dear all families,

Happy Eid to all our families who are celebrating!

It has been wonderful to see all the children back at school after the break. I hope you all had a lovely time. The children certainly seem ready for the summer term.

In school, this week, we have been discussing how we can develop our reading culture and the children's love of reading. It is an essential skill and can bring so much pleasure. There is some clear data that children who leave primary school not reading at the expected level do not achieve as well as those who have a richer reading diet at secondary school. Learning to read cannot be something just done at school. It relies on families reading with the children too - both children reading aloud and adults reading to them. Believe me, children in Year 6 are not too old to listen to a story. We are launching a new section in the newsletter which will have recommendations from children and adults of books to read, please see below.

On 27th April and 2nd May there are teacher strikes. Please see the letter here for which classes will be open.

We are re-launching our Friends of The Vineyard fund, to raise funds for the school. More information can be found here.

The summer term brings lots of exciting events starting with the Coronation Street Party on Friday 5th May. The children will be asked to come to school dressed in red, white or blue on that day, enjoy a picnic lunch (weather permitting), take part in a whole school assembly, make flags and crowns and have some optional homework which will be to draw a portrait of King Charles III. More information on this to follow.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Vineyard Recommended Reads!

Welcome to the brand new section of the newsletter - The Vineyard School’s recommended reads! Every week a teacher, a librarian or a child will recommend a favourite book of theirs.

Mr Jones recommends: Uma and the Answer to Absolutely Everything - Sam Copeland.

Reading Age: years 2 - 5.

Genre: comedy, science fiction, adventure.

Uma and the Answer to Absolutely Everything is a hilarious, fast-paced story which will make you laugh out loud. If you like Roald Dahl or David Walliams then you will love this book! Many children will probably recognise Sam Copeland because he visited The Vineyard School at the beginning of March in order to speak to years 2 - 5 about his new, award-winning book, the Underpants of Chaos.

Parent Volunteer Training- 28.04.23 at 8:50

In order to volunteer at The Vineyard, parents need a Vineyard DBS and to have attended the visitor safeguarding training. If you have not attended the training please do sign up here. If you have any questions please email me on amcardle@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Please note, this is only for parents who currently have a Vineyard DBS or have applied for one. We will not be taking any more DBS applications now until September.

Desperately Seeking...

Please could you give 30mins-1hour per week to assist with the school reading programme? It will involve listening and supporting children across all year groups on a weekly basis for the next term. Please email me on nrossington@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk with your preferred slot, even if you already volunteer in school, so we can make sure all year groups are covered. Thank you.

Nicola Rossington- Librarian and Parent Governor for Reading

Year 4 Parent Talk- Times table Check

As you know, the children will be carrying out a timetable check in June. So that parents know what this check entails and how to support their children at home with this, we are hosting a parent workshop. This will be on Friday 28th April at 3:15 in Zircon class. We recomend all parents and carers to attend.

Attendance

Well done to year 2 for the best attendance this week. Again, the attendance is low this week and our goal is 96%. Following the communication sent before the holidays, any holidays are unauthorised and all exceptional leave requests need to be carried out via the form in the office. During any Ofsted inspection, school attendance is scrutinised.

Message from Mrs Axbey

After fourteen years at The Vineyard, I will be leaving the school in July. This has been a hard decision, as this is a wonderful place to work and for your children to be. I plan to continue to develop my passion for working with learners with dyslexia and literacy difficulties, together with enjoying more time and flexibility in the next stage of my life. But before that, a busy term ahead!

Reminders

A quick reminder that the government will be running the Emergency Alert Test this Sunday the 23rd. You may wish to prepare your children for this and here is a link to a social story for you to use if this is helpful.
We have lots and lots of lost items of clothing, water bottles etc outside the main office. Please do come and look if your child has mislaid anything as we pass things to the PTA for re-sale after a certain length of time

Parent Help Needed!

Calling talented and creative parents! We are looking for someone who could help us film key productions at school and produce copies for parents to have as memories of these special occasions. Please contact Mrs Axbey if you can offer to help

Travel Survey

Each year we have to complete a travel survey to submit to TFL. We would appreciate if all carers can complete this survey for us. Depending on the outcome of this survey, the school may receive extra funding so please do complete it!

Coronation

On Friday 5^th May, The Vineyard School are very excited to be celebrating King Charles III’s coronation! Due to this being such a historic and pivotal event in the children’s lifetime, we want to make it memorable so that they are able to reflect back on it in years to come. We have several things planned during the school day to mark this occasion. This will include the children dressing up in red, white and/or blue, having a whole school picnic and much more!

There will also be a party after school run by the PTA. There will be drinks, cakes and much more. Please do come along to mark this historic occasion together.

Teaching and learning

It has been great to see the passion behind reading from some of the children we spoke to this week as part of our school reading review. The children discussed how much they enjoy reading to either a friend, family member at home and teaching staff in school, as well as recommending their favourite books. It cannot be stressed enough that a child’s reading ability and the number of books they therefore access is the number one route to becoming the most successful adult in all aspects of their academic life. We strongly encourage, as per our homework policy, that every child is read to and/or gets an opportunity to read a book every day at home.

Here are some platforms that parents find useful when reviewing books and finding them in their local library.

https://www.amightygirl.com/

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/childrens/

A message from the school council - date change due to teacher strike - Thursday 25th May

CREATE -A- COPTER

On behalf of London’s Air Ambulance Charity, the Student Council need YOUR help. As a school, we are raising money for this charity, to help them buy 2 new helicopters. We are having an exhibition!

You only need £1 to enter!

Your job is to create a model helicopter! You can create anything: paint a helicopter, make one out of junk, make one out of lego or even bake a helicopter cake! The date of the exhibition will be Thursday 25th May in the library after school. So get creating and fundraising! We can’t wait to see your amazing helicopters!

Our fundraising page is here.