The Vineyard School Parent Portal

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Caring Curious Courageous

Enabling all children to learn and grow

Friday 13th October 2023

Dear all families,

Everyone at school would like to express their sympathies to all those affected by the tragic events in the Middle East. We will raise money for all the children affected by having a non-uniform day next Friday 20th October. We will accept donations at the gate or via the app and will donate all money collected to a reputable charity.

It was lovely to see so many families visiting school this morning. The children were really happy to share the work they have done so far this term. I hope those of you who attended the reading workshop hosted by Mr Jones left feeling inspired about reading. Thank you to Mr Jones for all the hard work he is doing to develop a strong reading culture at The Vineyard.

During our assemblies this week we have been celebrating Black History month. We thought about some of our black women who have played a part in shaping history and are strong role models. We found out more about Malorie Blackman, Alice Dearing, Maggie Aderin Pocock, Alex Scott and Alesha Dixon. Please see below to find out about the competition we are holding.

Finally, we are looking forward to seeing many of your children at the PTA discos next week! In the meantime, I would like to wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Frances Bracegirdle

Headteacher - headteacher@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Families join us for lunch

Thank you to all who have come to school during recent weeks to have lunch with the children. Due to capacity in the kitchen and our dinner halls, we are unable to continue this for the foreseeable future. We hope that those who came found it useful.

Safeguarding

Please be mindful that some content on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok is inappropriate. It has come to our attention that there may be content about the Gaza-Israel crisis which may be distressing.

Please note that the recommended age for these apps is 13.

Miss McArdle - Assistant Headteacher and safeguarding lead

School Lunch Order System

After the half term, we will be relaunching our pre order system for lunches on the School Money app. To ensure that this is a smooth transition, we will be starting a year group at a time. This will start with Year 5 who will receive separate communication today. Please look out for this and ensure to order. If you are having any trouble, please speak to the office. All other year groups, will continue on the current system until further communication has been sent.

Diwali

If you and your family celebrate Diwali, would you consider coming into school to share this festival with the children in assembly? Or perhaps your child would like to share their Diwali experiences? This would be a fantastic opportunity for the school community to learn more about different cultures and celebrations. If you are interested, please contact Mrs Dempster using tandl@vineyard.richmond.sch.uk

Birthday Treats

As a healthy school, we try to limit the number of sweet treats the children are offered during the school day. We have decided to continue with our no cake or sweet rule on children's birthdays. If you would like to buy something for your child's class, so they can all celebrate their birthday, please buy a book for everyone to share.

Teaching and Learning at The Vineyard

Black History Month Competition

Who inspires you? We would like to invite all the children to create a poster to celebrate the achievements of an inspirational black woman! You could choose someone famous or someone you know in your life. Research your chosen woman and create a poster to highlight her accomplishments. The deadline for entries is 1st November. The Headship team will choose a winner from Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2 and the winners' posters will be displayed around the school and in the newsletter. We can't wait to see your amazing posters!

Ms Reilly and Mrs Dempster

Assistant Headteachers for Teaching & Learning

Flu Immunisation at school

Please can you submit a consent form to say whether you would like your child to be vaccinated this year. Click here.

Thank you

To all who bought cakes or costumes from the sale this week. It raised £600 which will go towards funding the Year 6 Osmington Bay residential trip.

Parent Volunteers - we need you!

If you have a DBS and have attended Miss McArdle's training, please contact your child's teacher to find out whether they need any volunteers. Teachers always need help with listening to children read, small admin jobs - the list is endless.

If you don't have a DBS there will be an opportunity to apply for one in January.

If you are a Reception parent, we are allowing applications with a deadline of 30.10.23. Please get in touch with the office if you fit that criteria.

School finances and paying for trips - we need your help!

Thank you to all families who have either paid their £100 contribution to help us enhance the curriculum through trips and workshops or have paid the first instalment. We are only going to be able to book trips when we have enough funds to cover the cost. Here Is a letter which explains the situation fully.

Attendance

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

The classes that have got a slice of pizza on their chart (no lates) are Emerald. Ruby, Carnelian and Peridot!

Miss McArdle- Assistant Headteacher

Geography Fieldwork Day

We are busy preparing for our first ever Vineyard fieldwork day! We are very excited to introduce this year's theme: 'the human and physical features of our local area'. The children will be finding out more about this during our assembly on Monday 16th October.

As you are journeying to school over the next few days, ask your children to identify the human (built by humans) and physical (natural/exists without humans) features surrounding them.

Finally, a huge thank you to those who volunteered to support the activities. Please speak to your class rep if you are unsure if you are volunteering or not.

I look forward to sharing the outcomes with you! Keep your fingers crossed for a beautiful dry day.

Miss Reilly, Geography Lead

How can you help to get the children reading at The Vineyard?

Reading is a vital skill for children to learn at primary school. At The Vineyard our aim is for all children to develop the love of reading. Over the next few weeks, every child will start to bring home a library book of their choice to share at home. Another huge influence on children is them seeing other members of their family read books, newspapers, magazines for their own interest and enjoyment.

Please see the slides from this morning's presentation here.

12 Oct 2023

Vineyard Recommended Reads

At the Vineyard we are celebrating Black History Month and we love celebrating inspiring books like Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. It looks at inspiring humans such as: Bassie Coleman, Ruby Bridges and Sojourner Truth.

An exciting writing competition you may want to enter.

Arts Richmond Young Writers' Festival is a great opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills in a genre of your choice: descriptive writing, non-fiction writing, poetry, song lyrics, plays. Entries must be typed.and the child’s name must be written directly onto the work or it will be disqualified. Deadline is Friday 1st December 2023.

Please follow this link to find out more information https://artsrichmond.org.uk/arts-richmond-events

Good luck - please let your teacher know if you decide to submit something

PTA News

Hi, we're the new PTA committee! And we’d like to outline our vision for next year. We want to:

Put on fun events for your kids
Host events that include our whole community
Support the school staff
Fundraise for in-school activities that support the curriculum (like authors for Book Week, and speakers/ explainers for STEM Week) as well as for items that enhance your kids’ experience of school (like refurbishing the library or playgrounds)
Support you in contributing to the school!

What we can do:

Listen to your thoughts and ideas!
Offer advice or answers if we know them!
Support you if you have a great idea for a school event you’d like to lead
Sell you a cake/ craft/ ice lolly/ second hand uniform
Support the school with requests for man-power/ materials/ resources
Help your child have an extra enjoyable primary school life!

What we can’t do:

Lobby the school on your behalf
Lobby the school on our own behalf!
Raise money or host events without your help!
You can contact us on pta@vineyardpta.org, or find us in the secondhand shop every morning after 8.30.

This week we have mostly been putting together our programme of events for the rest of this term. There will be a kids’ disco next Wednesday (buy your tickets if you haven’t already!) and a Christmas movie night on 15 December.

Plans for our Christmas Crafting Market on Saturday 2 December are well under way - please get in touch via pta@vineyardpta.org if you have anything to offer. We’d particularly like to hear from you if you can:

• help with decorating the hall,
• lead a crafting workshop between 11.00-2.00
• take a table to sell your or our crafts/gifts/foods

And speaking of Christmas, you should by now have received a template for your child to draw a Christmas card (mug/etc) design. Please see instructions from your class rep or the message on Classlist (sent Monday 9 Oct) for more details.